Complex Attractions
by f0xygrandma15
Summary: Ron and Hermione face their inevitable attraction for each other, but it's not as easy as it would seem...
1. Confusing Conversations

Chapter one

It was a lazy August morning, and Ron was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet, when he heard someone coming down the stairs. He looked up to find Ginny walk in wearing her pink robe, looking like she had barely gotten any sleep. She dragged herself over to the table and plopped herself into a seat. She slowly reached for the orange juice and was just about to pour some on the table when Ron was able to slide her glass in the way. Ron watched her as she seemed to waver in and out of consciousness. Finally, he broke the silence. 

"Ginny, did you sleep at all last night??" 

"Hm, huh?" she mumbled. 

"I'll take that as a no…" 

"Oh, what? Yeah, I slept. I think anyway. Why?" 

"Um, only because you almost poured orange juice on the table a minute ago," Ron chuckled. 

"I did? Oh, haha. Whoops! How silly of me." 

"Ginny, what were doing all night?" Ron asked, with an amused smirk on his face. 

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep, that's all," she replied, staring at her glass of now half empty orange juice. The other half had landed somewhere between her mouth and her lap. 

"Yeah, right. So what were you doing? Come on, you can tell me!" Ron tried to coerce her to reveal whatever it was that she was hiding. _What could she have possibly been doing that she can't even tell me anyway?_ he thought as he waited for her response. 

"I was writing something. There, are you happy? I was simply writing something." She tried to seem annoyed, but instead a wide grin spread across her face. She had been thinking about what it was she had been writing. She again attempted to drink if only a little of her orange juice, but she was interrupted by the sound of Pig hooting loudly as he made his grand entrance into the kitchen...

He hovered over Ginny's head and dropped something into her juice-stained lap. Ginny suddenly turned beet-red and looked at Ron while she stuffed the letter into her pocket. 

"That was unexpectedly quick," she mumbled to herself as Ron watched her; he was utterly bewildered by all of this. 

"Ginny, hey wait, what is that? Who wrote you?" he said while reaching across the table to see if he could somehow grab the letter. 

"No one, really! It's just a friend of mine, her name is Michele, she's in my dormitory, and we've been writing each other! That's all!" she huffed. 

And with that she stood up, grabbed her nearly emptied glass (her last attempt had succeeded only by a small margin) and headed back up to her room. Ron was perplexed, but decided to just drop it and got back to reading the Daily Prophet. 

Back in her room, Ginny frantically pulled the letter out of her pocket and sat down on her bed. She couldn't believe it, he had actually read her letter! She opened the letter and began to read: 

_Dear Ginny, _

_I got your letter last night. I couldn't really sleep so I sat up all night and wrote you back. Sorry I sent it so early, but I wanted you to get it as soon as possible. Life here with the Dursleys is, well, what can I say? Dudley just got a car for his birthday, even though he's not old enough to drive yet, and he doesn't even know how for that matter…I would advise all the neighbors to stay indoors if they wish to live. I wouldn't leave the house either. Then again, not like I have a choice… I've just been hanging around my room, not doing much, just working on my paper for McGonagall. This year we have to take the O.W.Ls, so it'll be a little hectic. I hope they're not as scary as I've heard them to be. Anyway, Uncle Vernon's yelling at me to come to breakfast, so naturally I'll be eating those cookies you sent me right about now. Thanks so much, you've saved me from the whole wheat pancakes Aunt Petunia's been making lately. That was really kind of you! Write back when you get the chance! _

_Love, Harry_

Ginny squealed with excitement as she folded up the letter and lay on her bed. 

She took out her quill and a piece of parchment and began to write again: 

_Dear Harry, _

_I hope you like the cookies, I made them last night, I couldn't sleep either. Why did Dudley get a car? I swear, your aunt and_

_uncle keep getting dumber and dumber every year! Well, I hope they're not letting him drive it. I'd be afraid to leave the house_

_too. Your birthday's coming up, isn't it? What would you like? I'm gonna make up for the fact that they never get you a present. So think about it and let me know, okay? And if you need more cookies, let me know, I'll make as many as you need! Don't let the Dursleys get you down! _

_Love, Ginny _

She read her letter several times, until she was sure it wasn't too obviously affectionate, and then she folded it up and went

downstairs to find Pig. She heard him in the kitchen pestering Ron, and when she walked in she tied the letter to his leg and sent him off.

She returned to her seat at the table and smiled at Ron. 

"So Ron, what are you doing today?" she asked, trying to keep her obvious grin under control. 

"Nothing much, I thought I'd write to Hermione and Harry, see if they wanted to come for the rest of summer, as usual… "Ron

trailed off, as he couldn't help but notice Ginny's eyes light up at the sound of Harry's name. He decided to overlook this and

continue. 

"Erm, anyway, why? What are you doing today?" he was beginning to catch onto Ginny. 

"Nothing really. Just hanging around, nothing special." Ron looked at her incredulously. 

"Ginny, just tell me what's going on! I know it's something! Please, you obviously want to tell someone, so why not me, your dear, loving older brother??" he begged. 

He was right, she did want to tell someone, but Ron was definitely not that person. How could she tell him she was in love with his best friend? He had always been teasing her about it for ages already, but if he knew that she really did actually like him, how would he react?

She didn't want to find out. 

"Ron, it's nothing! But you should write them already, there's only two weeks left of summer," Ginny said, changing the subject. 

"Yeah, you're right, I'll go do that right now." 

Ron headed upstairs to his room, and once he was out of earshot she sighed a heavy sigh of relief.


	2. Facing Facts

Chapter two

Two days later, Ginny was awoken by a loud bang downstairs. She got out of bed, pulled on her robe, and groggily made her way down the stairs. When she walked into the kitchen, she gasped loudly as she saw Harry, Hermione and Ron standing around the table. Ginny realized just then that she hadn't brushed her hair or washed her face, so she had sleep in her eyes and her hair was...well, it was everywhere. She looked at them like she was a deer in headlights, then fought the urge to run away and instead quickly ran her fingers through her hair and rubbed her eyes. 

"Good morning Ginny!" said Harry and Hermione at the same time. Ron just watched her, chuckling silently to himself. 

"Er, good morning you guys! When did you guys get here?" she asked, trying to keep calm. 

"Oh, only a few minutes ago. Sorry we woke you, but my trunk decided to fly across the room and hit the wall when I came through the fireplace," Harry said with a grin. Ginny loved Harry's grin, it was so warm and cheery... 

"Oh, yeah, uh, that's fine, I was about to wake up anyway!" she replied, then realizing just how dumb that sounded. 

"Well, I'm going to go upstairs and get dressed, I'll see you all later!" With that she ran up the stairs, feeling her cheeks go red.

That evening, everyone under the Weasley roof sat around the table for dinner. Ron sat next to Hermione, who sat next to Harry, who sat next to Ginny. All through dinner, Ginny kept sneaking looks at Harry, and for some reason he felt himself returning them. At one point she accidentally kicked his foot under the table, and for the rest of dinner, and for the next two weeks' dinners as well, they played footsie under the table. 

Finally, it was the day before the start of term, and the four of them were in Diagon Alley buying their supplies. They were in Flourish and Blotts getting their books when Ginny became suddenly fascinated by something on display over in the corner of the shop. Harry noticed and watched her eyes as she looked at it ever so longingly. She looked at it until it was time for them to leave, when she sadly glanced back at it and left the store. They were about to go into Quality Quidditch Supplies when Harry told them he'd forgotten something. He returned a few minutes later with a small parcel in his pocket... 

The next day, the four of them shared a compartment on the Hogwarts. Ron and Harry were talking about Quidditch, of course, and Hermione and Ginny were sitting next to the window, talking about... 

"So, what's going on with you and Harry?" Hermione said quietly. 

"Haha, what do you mean? Nothing is going on. I wish!" Ginny clapped her hand over her mouth and turned scarlet, and Hermione laughed hysterically. For the rest of the train ride, the two of them talked about the letters they had been exchanging and the cookies she had been sending. Hermione was thinking of how to get the two of them together with as little conflict as possible. Of course, Ron would flip if he found out that Harry had a crush on his little sister. So how would this ever work?

When they got onto the horseless carriages to head up to the school, it was pouring outside. They arrived at the front of the school and headed into the entrance hall when Ginny slipped on a puddle of water conveniently placed at the top of the stairs.She let out a yell and reached out for Ron's hand, but instead was met by Harry's. He stepped behind her and pulled her up but the damage had been done. She twisted her ankle and couldn't walk on it. She couldn't help but blush and giggle when Harry offered her a piggy-back ride, but she reluctantly climbed on and he carried her all the way to the Great Hall. He sat her down at the Gryffindor table and sat next to her, and they started joking about their ride while they waited for everyone else to arrive, but neither of them seemed to notice the daggers being shot from Ron's glare... 

After a while, everyone had arrived, McGonagall had set up the stool with the sorting hat, and the teachers took their seats at the head table. The first years filed into the great hall and waited. Harry assured Ginny that he would take her to see Madame Pomfrey as soon as they finished eating. The sorting was soon over. Everyone fell silent as Dumbledore rose. 

"Welcome back, all of you. I hope you all had enjoyable summers, and are ready for polluting your free minds with the knowledge the new year has in store." At this, the students chuckled amongst themselves. 

"Speaking of what this year has in store, I'm happy to inform you that this year, we will be holding many more social events, including a Christmas ball." Many students began chatting excitedly at this news. 

"You all know that the forest is off limits, so there's no need to tell you again! Dig in!"

During dinner, Ron and Hermione exchanged surprised looks at how much Ginny and Harry had been flirting with each other. So far, Ginny had commented on how good he was at Quidditch (like he's never heard that one before!) and Harry had gushed about how amazingly good Ginny's cookies were (at this Ron expressed shock--how did he know? When had Harry ever had his sister's cookies?) They could barely seem to even notice the presence of anyone else. Hermione kept noting how cute it was, but Ron didn't know how much of this he could take. What did Harry think he was doing, playing his little sister like that? Whatever happened to Cho, or all of the other girls that fawned all over him? Ron couldn't help but imagine all the bad things that would come of Harry and Ginny becoming, well, an item. Ron suddenly stood up and walked off to common room, his head so full of conflict that he had to lay down to sort out his feelings. Only then did Harry and Ginny notice something other than each other. 

"Oh dear..." mumbled Hermione, "now what do I do?" Ginny and Harry shared confused glances and the three of them decided it best to let Ron be alone, whatever was bothering him.

After a few minutes, Hermione was starting to feel really bad, so she told them she'd meet them in the common room and set off after Ron. Hermione had just reached the entrance hall when she was headed off by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. 

"Where you going, mudblood? Chasing your little weasel? Aww, how sweet! Make sure you tell him hi from me! Oh, and give him this-" 

He tossed her a paperback book entitled "101 Ways to Make Money, Quick!" 

"I found it in Flourish and Blotts and thought his family might be able to use it..."and finally Malfoy walked off. 

Grr, Hermione thought to herself, there's got to be something that will get him so bad...She continued thinking of revenge plots when she reached the portrait of the fat lady and said "elvenshire". She stepped through the portrait hole and saw Ron sitting in a chair by the fire.

"Ron-" 

"What do you want?" he snapped, thinking it was Ginny. 

"I just, well, I wanted to talk to you about Harry and-" 

"I don't want to talk about that right now. Why don't you just go talk about cookies some more?" Ron knew he sounded childish, but he was too mad to care. 

"Um, Ron?" Hermione started chuckling. She couldn't believe he couldn't distinguish the difference between herself and Ginny. 

"Ron, it's me." She was laughing ut loud now, as Ron turned around and looked at her. He suddenly turned bright red and pale white at the same time, which made for an interesting skin color. 

"Oh man, I'm sorry! I was just so mad I wasn't even thinking. I thought you were Ginny." Ron started laughing as well, and Hermione walked over to his chair and sat in the one next to him.

She sat down and faced Ron. He tried to avoid her eyes, cause he knew what she was going to say, but he couldn't help but feel drawn to her gaze. 

"Ron, you know that Harry cares about you and would never do anything to hurt you, or to hurt Ginny either. I think that he really likes her, as far as I can tell, and I really think that his intentions are good. I know what you're thinking-but he wouldn't do anything like that to your sister." 

Hey, how did she know I was thinking that? Hmm...he thought as he watched the fire reflect in her eyes. It appeared to be dancing around in circles...Ron stared into that fire as Hermione tried to convince Ron that it really wouldn't be that bad if Harry and Ginny dated. But no matter how good her intentions were, Ron just wouldn't hear it. Not that he minded hearing her voice...

Hermione could tell he wasn't paying attention to anything she was saying. But she wasn't upset; instead she felt herself sympathizing with him. She stopped pressing the subject and instead sat quietly next to him, watching the fire. It wasn't that Ron didn't appreciate Hermione's caring effort, but he really just didn't see himself able to accept Harry and Ginny together. Still, he was too tired and distracted to argue, so he too directed his gaze to the fire. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, when suddenly... 

"Ron?" 

Ron was jolted by the sudden breach of silence. 

"Yeah?"

"Well-" 

She wasn't sure whether or not now was the best time to bring this up... 

"What is it?" asked Ron. 

"I was just thinking, um...well, I guess.." she was really having trouble saying this. And all she wanted to say was how much she was enjoying sitting with him in front of the fire! Why couldn't she say it? 

Lucky for her, just then the portrait hole swung open and Ginny and Harry stepped inside. Ron and Hermione looked up from each other. 

"Ron-" 

Ron stood up and climbed the stairs to the boys' dormitories without hearing a word from Harry. 

"Wait, Ron!" 

Harry followed him up the stairs. Ginny walked over to Hermione and sat in Ron's seat. 

"Why's he so upset?" Ginny asked. She honestly had no clue what was going on, especially since she didn't see her and Harry like Ron did. 

"Oh, it's, well...are you and Harry together?" Hermione changed the subject. 

"Oh, no, but...well, he did ask me to the Christmas ball. Just as a friend of course, we were joking about it downstairs. But that's all." 

Hermione sighed. Boy, would Ron be delighted to hear that...

Harry reached the top of the stairs and opened the door. He saw Ron laying on his bed, reading Quidditch Through the Ages for what must have been the billionth time... 

"Ron-" 

"So, you and my sister, huh?" Ron said bitterly. He sounded much more pissed off than he really was, but he wasn't ready to show that yet. 

"Ron, nothing is going on between us! We just enjoy each other's company, that's all. She's a really great person, and I guess you don't think so cause she's your sister. But she's just a load of fun really." If Harry thought that what he just said alleviated the situation, he was dead wrong. It only just affirmed everything Ron thought would happen in the first place, and Ron became sincerely angry. 

"So what, she's just a load of fun to you? Is that all she is? You know, she actually likes you, and all you can say is she's a load of FUN!! Geez Harry, you're more insensitive than I thought! That's all she's worth to you then! I knew this would happen!" 

Ron slammed his book closed and threw it to the floor. He stood up and towered over Harry. 

"Stay away from my sister, she doesn't need someone to play with, she needs someone to actually CARE about her!" And with that, he pulled the curtains around his four poster closed and lay on his bed, glaring pointlessly at the ceiling. 

Harry had never seen Ron like this before. He was seriously afraid of Ron for the first time ever. Was Ron right? Was that really all she was worth to him? Or did he think of her as more than, well, a load of fun. What made me say that, of all things? Good job Harry, he thought to himself as he fumbled in his pocket for the small parcel. He took it out, opened the box, and stared at it for a long time before he put it back in his pocket and fell asleep.

Ron noticed that Harry had gone to sleep, but he himself felt too angry to sleep. What does Harry think he's doing, screwing around with my sister like that? Who does he think he is? Ron scowled to himself as he tried to fall asleep, but his head was too busy reeling with thoughts to lay still. After a while, he gave up on sleeping and headed downstairs with a book he had found on the floor of the common room called "101 Ways to Make Money, Quick!" and a Gryffindor blanket. But when he got downstairs, he saw someone already sitting in front of the fireplace, staring into it and thinking fervently...


	3. Caring Confrontations

Chapter three

Ginny was imagining herself with Harry Potter at the Christmas ball, hair up, gorgeous dress, and perfectly assembled. Harry would gaze at her lovingly as they danced, he would lead her outside to the gardens, look deeply into her eyes, declare his undying love for her and give her the most passionate kiss she would ever experience for the rest of her life...Ron quietly made his way down the stairs and sat next to her before she noticed he was even in the room. 

"Ron! sheesh, you scared me to death! What are you doing still up?" she asked, clutching her chest and catching her breath. 

"Well, I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd come down here and read...looks like you beat me down here, eh?" he said lightheartedly. As much as he hated to admit it, he cared a lot for his sister and couldn't bear to see her hurt. 

"What have you been doing down here this whole time?" 

"Oh, just thinking... about nothing in particular." Ginny added, realizing she couldn't tell him what about. 

"Oh, I see..." Ron felt a little sad, he was being left out, but he decided not to press it. If she didn't feel like talking to him, he wouldn't force it. They sat there, not really knowing what to say. It had been a long time since they had really been close, back when they had been kids, and now... 

"So, are you going to the Christmas ball?" Ginny asked, breaking the ice. 

"Gee, hadn't really thought about it...are you?" As soon as those words left his mouth he knew he would regret asking. 

"Well, I'm thinking about going with Harry, he asked me tonight...how would you feel about that?" she asked kindly. 

Ron was taken aback. Since when did he care what he thought? At the same time, he felt a bit better about the situation. She actually cared! Ron smiled and turned to look into his sister's eyes. 

"Look, if it makes you happy, go for it. I think it's be a great idea." 

"Ginny-" 

For the first time in a very long time, Ron put his arm around his little sister's shoulder and pulled her close to him. He looked at her, and right then he saw how grown up she had become. He was amazed at the fact that he had never seen her so mature before. He kissed her on the forehead and smiled. He was proud of her. 

"-although I can't say I don't appreciate your concern for my feelings on this matter, it really isn't my place to have any authority on your decision." Ron was taken aback by the seriousness and maturity of his words, and hadn't realized that any of those words had even existed in his vocabulary. 

"You're old enough where you can decide for yourself, and I have to learn to accept that I guess..."Ron trailed off. 

Ginny looked up at him and smiled. 

"Ronald Weasley, you are the greatest brother a girl could hope for." 

With that she hugged her blushing Ron, said goodnight, and headed upstairs to her dormitory. 

Ron was alone in the common room, thankful to finally have some time to think to himself. The more he thought about it, the more upset he became about yelling at Harry so badly. He had only looked for the worst in Harry instead of accepting the best. Even though he would still feel a little awkward about the whole situation, he decided that it was going to be okay. Besides, Harry was his best friend, wasn't he? So he obviously had to be a good guy. Not like it was Malfoy or someone like that. Ron's reeling thoughts finally slowed to a steady pace, and he began to feel sleepy. He considered retreating to his bed when he heard a creak behind him.

Ron turned around to find Hermione standing at the foot of the stairs. 

**********************************************************************************************************************************

"Erm-" Hermione started. She really hadn't expected to say anything, or be noticed for that matter. 

"Hi..." Ron said softly. Just as he had tried not to think about her, he found it was inevitable. She looked so cute in her pajamas... 

"Ron, I--that was really sweet of you. It means a lot her that you trust her and care about her so much."

Ron wanted to say something, anything, but no words seemed right for this occasion, so he decided against saying something dumb and kept his mouth. His silence caught Hermione off guard. He seems angry...is it something I said? she wondered.

She was about to ask Ron what was wrong, but at the last second decided against it. She couldn't help but feel a little put out, but she wouldn't show it, so she looked at the fire as it began to rise voraciously. As soon as she did, Ron sneaked a glance at her out of the corner or his eye...why can't I say anything? I really am at a loss for words. Why is this happening? It's just Hermione, right? Ron opened his mouth to speak, thinking he had found something to say, but it fled his tongue and he was left befuddled, so he closed his mouth. As the minutes passed, Hermione found herself less and less unsettled by the silence, and it wasn't so awkward anymore. She gradually slid closer to Ron as the moon grew brighter and the fire calmed down to a moderate, dormant state. 

Hermione was wide awake, but Ron could feel his eyelids growing heavy. Nevertheless, he tried his best to stay awake. If he couldn't talk to her, he could at least stay awake and enjoy this moment with her... 

Hermione couldn't fathom how much time had passed. All she could think of was how incredibly warm the room was. She was breathing in the sweet scent of fire when she felt something hit her shoulder. She looked over to see Ron had finally fallen asleep. She could only imagine how tired he had been. She wrapped her arm around him and pulled him closer to her. She grabbed the blanket Ron had brought down earlier and pulled it across them. Suddenly she felt very protective of Ron, though she couldn't quite understand why. She started stroking his soft head and staring into the fire. The last thing she saw was the bright, full moon in the dark, starry sky, and the last thing she smelled was the clean freshness of Ron's hair.


	4. Admitting Adoration

Chapter four

"Oh wow, that's cute!" 

"Are they-" 

"I guess!" 

"Ah, ickle Ronnie's growing up! Look at that!" 

Hermione woke with a start. She barely had to raise her head to see that almost every Gryffindor was standing around them, staring and gushing. Oh dear, she thought, what will Ron think? She looked around for a sign of Ginny or Harry, and eventually her eyes found them in the corner, Harry wearing a mischevious smirk and Ginny looking like she had just seen a baby hippogriff take it's first steps towards his mommy. Get them out of here! she mouthed to Harry, but he pretended not to understand. She looked down at Ron as he began to stir. 

"Hm, but I don't like walnuts mum!" he mumbled, and Hermione tried to block out the noise so he wouldn't wake. She stalled as much as she could, but to her dismay, he opened his eyes and sighed happily. Before he had a chance to notice everyone else around them, Ron looked at Hermione, kissed her on the cheek and said "Good morning!" He honestly hadn't put much thought into his actions. Of course, just as he did this, practically all of the girls swooned, and the guys all chuckled. Ron was startled and frantically got a glance at his fans before blushing a bright tomato red. 

"Er, good morning! um...right" he managed to squeeze out before he ducked under the blanket. Hermione laughed and blushed as well.

Ron had insisted on waiting for everyone to leave before he emerged from under the blanket, so Hermione decided to go change. She figured she would cause more damage if she stayed there with him. She came back down in her robes and noticed that the common room was almost empty. Everyone had left since it seemed obvious that the show was over. Hermione walked over and pulled the blanket off of Ron. 

"Morning sunshine!" she said sarcastically. 

"Are they gone?" was the only thing Ron could say without blushing profusely. 

"Yeah, the crowd died down once George had figured you'd suffered enough and brought out some of his and Fred's new inventions. Rather nice of him, really." She smirked at him as he stood up cautiously, looking around just to be sure. 

"Better get ready if you want to make it to breakfast!" 

"Hey, will you wait for me?" he asked, smiling innocently. 

Hermione smiled resignedly and plopped herself on a chair as he ran up the stairs. She couldn't help but chuckle. Since when did he not like walnuts? 

Downstairs, the students recieved their schedules, and just then did Harry realize that, for the first time in their history at Hogwarts, they had the same DADA teacher for the second year in a row. Mrs. Figg had come last year, and no one could really have expected her to say, considering the injury she sustained during the bringing down of Voldemort. But bravely and astonishingly enough, she had decided to hang in there. Which was a good thing. Harry had really enjoyed her DADA class last year, she was a particularly interesting teacher. Harry mentioned this to Ron, but Ron was too preoccupied to respond. He was busy throwing toast bits at Hermione while she tried to read her schedule.

Normally Hermione would scowl at Ron, but for some reason she laughed instead and picked up her toast bits. The rest of breakfast was spent avoiding shots from the both of them and half of Gryffindor table watching in amusement. Fred and George were about to join in when McGonagall threw them a sharp look from the head table, and they reluctantly placed their ammo back on their plates. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione said goodbye to Ginny as they climbed out of the portrait hole and headed towards Care of Magical Creatures, which they had first. They reached Hagrid's hut and waited for him outside. He emerged a few moments carrying what looked like boxes of plant bulbs. The three of them looked at each other, bewildered...plants weren't magical creatures...but watched all the same. Finally Hagrid spoke. 

"Mornin, all! How are we doin today?" he asked, smiling. 

"Good," they replied. 

Soon everyone arrived and stood around the plants, wearing expressions similar to those worn by Ron, Harry and Hermione moments before. 

Hagrid assigned four to a group, and each group to a table. They were supposed to remove the excess soil off the roots and simply plant the bulbs into the ground, which seemed simple enough. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville walked over to a table, put on their gloves, and began working. Harry noticed that Ron seemed much calmer now, so he decided to bring up their argument... 

"Er, Ron?" Harry asked tentatively. Ron looked up from his bulb. 

"Yeah?" Ron wondered why Harry sounded so cautious. 

"Well, about last night...I wanted to say that you're right, I probably wouldn't be a very good person for Ginny to be with...I guess I just hadn't thought about it, but you're completely right. She needs somebody who's good for her, and I'd probably end up screwing things over somehow, and I wouldn't want to ruin things with her or you..." 

Harry had been staring at his bulb the whole time, resignedly picking soil out of the same spot, although there wasn't any more soil there to be picked off. Ron looked at Harry incredulously. Was he serious? Now that he had just become used to the fact that they liked each other he was giving up? Right before he opened his mouth to speak, he noticed Hermione glaring at him, but only because she had not been aware of this before now. He smiled sheepishly and turned back to answer Harry.

"Harry, are you joking? You're the best guy I know, of course you'd be good for her! I can't believe you're saying this!" Ron tried to convince Harry that he encouraged this relationship, but nothing he said was very encouraging at all. It turned out he wasn't very good with words. (what a surprise...) Ron became flustered and picked at the same spot of his bulb as well. Harry had already decided it wasn't worth causing a rift in his friendships with Ginny or Ron, and nothing would change his mind. Or could it? If the three of them hadn't been so involved in their own thoughts, maybe one of them would have noticed that Neville seemed to be deeply occupied in his own turmoil. He had been a little taken aback by the previous conversation...

The rest of the afternoon passed in virtual silence. Ron had given up on trying to convince Harry that he wanted him to go out with her, and Harry was feeling really down about the whole thing, but was determined to get over it. Hermione was the only one who spoke, but nothing she had to say was consoling to either of them, so she basically ended up talking to herself. Finally, in what seemed like the longest day ever, classes were over and they were sitting at the Gryffindor table at dinner. Ginny came over to them and sat next to Harry, of course not aware of what had happened that day. She smiled at them all and asked them how the first day of classes went, to which they all mumbled some form of encouraging remark, to which Ginny frowned. 

"What's wrong?" 

Harry couldn't bring himself to look at her bright, caring eyes, so instead he kept staring at him potatoes. 

"Nothing, we're just...tired, that's all." he said, trying to sound the part. Ginny felt a little hurt by his coldness, so she too stared down at her plate and played silently with her peas. Ron really couldn't take anymore of this. He was about to blab when Hermione noticed and kicked him under the table. 

"Hey, what the--" 

"Ron, I'm going upstairs to start our potions work, but I need help. Would you mind?" she asked pointedly. 

Ron glanced at Harry and Ginny before he got up and followed Hermione. Ginny and Harry sat in an awkward silence, while Harry was constantly aware of the parcel in his pocket. He had kept it there every day and looked forward to when he could present it, but now the whole thing seemed pointless. He took the parcel out of his pocket and placed it on the table. 

"I got this for you, I noticed you watching it in Diagon Alley, so I went back for it..." 

He wanted to keep talking, but he was too upset and didn't want to imply anything more, so he got up from the table and walked out of the Great Hall. Ginny, tears pushing from behind her eyes, stared at the package until finally, she couldn't take anymore. She slowly pulled apart the tape and took the paper off to see a silver case. A big grin spread across her face as she opened the case, and the tears streamed down her cheeks... 

He had seen her watching it, he went back for it...she closed the case and sighed. Then she realized that he had just taken off, so she got up as quickly as she could without tripping over herself and chased after him. 


	5. Ubiquitous Undertones

Chapter five

Meanwhile... 

Ron and Hermione were headed up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower. Ron thought he was gonna get it for sure. He could only assume what angry thoughts were zooming through her mind at that moment. They reached the fat lady, and Hermione whispered 'snickerdoodles' and they walked in. Ron wondered why she had whispered. 

Hermione turned sharply towards Ron and he flinched, but instead of the harsh, angry face he had expected to see, he was 

met with a sweet, appreciative face instead. 

"Ron, you did all you could. Now all you can do is wait and see what happens, okay? Harry's got to figure this one out on his own. But I'm really glad you said those things today. Even if Harry didn't appreciate them right away, he will soon enough." 

She had been proud of him that entire day. Sure, she was a little upset when she heard that he had yelled at Harry the night before, but when Ron had decided to move past that and let it be, she was surprised. Ron had never shown such compassion before. She had wanted to say something all day, but she hadn't been quite sure how to say it. Plus, she didn't want to bring it up in front of Harry, he needed to be in his own thoughts.

**********************************************************************************************************************************

Ginny caught up to Harry a few minute later. He had decided to go for a walk outside, seeing as how Ron and Hermione had gone upstairs and he didn't want to disturb whatever was going on at the moment...He had wandered all the way over to the edge of the forbidden forest when he stood still and looked up at the stars. He tried to slow the thoughts in his head and concentrate on one stream of thought at a time. He had given her the present. It seemed like a quick fix to his problem, as he hadn't really thought of what would happen afterwards. He was beginning to miss her smile, her laughter. But he had told himself that no matter how much Ron denied it, it would hurt him, and he couldn't do that to Ron. But how long could he last without Ginny in his life? He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. 

He turned around to find Ginny running towards him, only a few meters away. He felt his heart flutter and beat faster, but told himself off and tried to hide any sort of emotion. He had expected her to stop and say something, but instead she just kept running until she was right in front of him and pressed herself into him. She threw her arms around him and kissed him without even a second thought. Harry could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and a chill run through his body, and he pulled Ginny even closer to himself. As much as he tried to think of some excuse to stop, he couldn't find one good reason why, and put all of those thoughts out of his head. Harry was pleased at how passionately she kissed him, like she was so sure of everything she felt about him. They stood there for a few moments, unaware of time or space...

Finally Ginny pulled away slowly, so that there was only a breath of space between their lips. She looked into his piercingly green eyes, and she noticed a certain light in them that made her smile. They stood there, just looking at each other, at a complete loss for words, when finally... 

"Thank you, for the gift..." 

"You're welcome." 

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the silver case. She held it tight in her hand and smiled. Harry was so glad to see her smile again...

**********************************************************************************************************************************

Hermione was looking into Ron's eyes and seeing something she had never seen before. His eyes were blue as the sea as always, but this time a ring of fire danced on the surface of the water. She was deeply intrigued, but at the same time was deferred by his silence. He hadn't really talked to her in a long time it seemed, and she wondered if it was something she had done. That's how he always made her feel--excited and down at the same time. Ron's eyes seemed to be telling her something--but what that something was, she couldn't tell. She stepped away from him and sat down in a chair. Ron looked slightly put off by this, but he didn't read too much into it. What is she thinking? he wondered. He sat down in the chair next to hers and watched her. It seemed lately that she didn't have much to say to him he thought. Do I repel her? Does she see through me? His mind was once again reeling with thoughts that he just couldn't get a hold of. Ever since he could remember, she had been reluctant towards him, and he had always hoped that one day she would just open up to him. But it seemed that today was just not that day. He sighed as though coming to some conclusion is his head and relaxed into the chair. 

**********************************************************************************************************************************

Even though he hadn't really lost her, Harry was so glad to his Ginny back. They stood in the moonlight and held each other for what seemed like hours. Harry felt like he might lose her again if he chanced letting her go. Ginny loved the feeling that was rushing through her veins. She loved feeling his heart beat next to hers, his chest rising and falling when he breathed, his arms wrapped around her tightly. She loved everything around her. She loved Harry. She didn't even feel scared thinking about it, because she knew it was right. She was so sure about the existence of her love that she was ready to declare it right then and there...until- 

"Ginny?" 

"yes?" she whispered. 

"I know this may seem really odd, and rather soon, because while I have known you for a long time, I'm not sure of how long I've felt this way, but is does seem like it might be too soon, and you might thing strangely of me, but-" 

"Spit it out, Potter."she whispered teasingly. 

"I-well, I think I love you." 

Ginny was expecting something alright, but this far surpassed anything she he would have imagined him saying. She had just been thinking the same thing, which threw her off quite a bit. She looked up at him, her heart began pounding, and she couldn't help but wonder if he could feel her heart like she could. He noticed it as well, and he took this as a good sign. 

"I think I love you too," she whispered.

**********************************************************************************************************************************

Hermione decided that she couldn't really take the silence anymore, so she went upstairs and retrieved her Arithmancy book and started her homework. Ron watched, astonished...of, course, when in doubt, do homework, he thought to himself. He kept watching her as she began to read the assignment. She was trying her hardest to concentrate, but she kept sneaking glances at him out of the corner of her eye. Ron hadn't noticed this until he realized that she had been on the same page for half an hour. 

"Hermione, do you need help reading that?" he teased. 

She was startled. He had been watching her? 

"Uh, um... no, I'm just rereading it so I don't miss anything." 

She turned her head so he wouldn't see her blush. After a few minutes of watching her adoringly, he figured he may as well do his homework with her. The minute Ron left the room, Hermione felt the room grow lonely and cold, but she tried to keep on with her homework. She knew he would be coming back, so the next few minutes wouldn't be too unbearable. But ten minutes passed and he hadn't come down yet. Was he okay? She tried not to read too much into it until she realized at least 45 minutes had passed and he still hadn't come down...

Hermione rushed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, her heart racing. Was he okay? She couldn't stand to think what she'd do if he wasn't alright. She didn't even think twice before opening the door. 

"RON! Are you okay?" she yelled. 

Ron was staring out the window into the gardens. He spun around, rattled by her sudden appearance. 

"Yes! Why wouldn't I be okay?" he asked. He came off as sounding mad, but he couldn't help it, she had really scared him. 

"Sheesh, don't do that again! You scared my half to death!" he gasped. 

"I scared you?!? You have been up here for the past hour and I scared YOU? Explain that to me Ron Weasley!" 

He looked at her with a shocked expression on his face. He had never seen her so angry before. He wasn't quite sure what to say, so instead he turned back to the window and looked out. 

"What, you can't answer me? What have you been doing?" she said, this time with in a less severe tone. 

He took her hand and pulled her next to him at the window. He looked pointedly in one direction at a spot all the way towards the edge of the grounds, and there were two people, walking with their arms around each other. Hermione quietly gasped and looked at Ron, but she was a little surprised to see a look of ease and contentment on his face. She was awfully relieved, she would have hated to see Ron mope around again. They continued watching the two of them slowly approach the castle, unaware, or so it seemed, of the fact that they too were holding hands.


	6. Hardhanded Hatred

Chapter six

Over the next few weeks, the Christmas ball was quickly approaching, and it seemed certain more than ever that Harry and Ginny were going together (in both senses...). As news spread across the grounds that they were together, strange things started happening...for one thing, it had been quite some time since Harry had been tormented by Malfoy...

Every time Harry noticed a perfect opportunity for Malfoy to hassle him, he would stare at him blankly instead. Harry found this rather odd, but decided it was better than his regular torture and left it at that. Ginny also noticed that Ron had lightened up considerably. She wasn't aware that it had been about her and Harry, but she was glad about it all the same. 

The ball was four weeks away, and Ron still didn't have a date. At least that's what Harry reminded him of every day. Ron didn't particularly want to ask anyone, there was no one who quite tickled his fancy. Harry knew that Ron wanted to ask Hermione, but he stopped bringing it up after Ron threatened to jelly-legs curse him if he kept bugging him about it. Ron, on the other hand, wouldn't admit it to himself in the first place, let alone ask her. He kept telling himself he didn't like her and left it at that. Besides, even if he did, that would just be too weird. It's not like Hermione ever thought of him that way, or at least that's what he believed... 

Hermione was almost fed up with discussing the subject with Ginny. It's not that she didn't like Ginny or wasn't happy for her, but at the same time she was beginning to drive her nuts. Ginny kept telling Hermione to just ask Ron and get it over with, but why would she do something that absurd? It wasn't like she liked him or anything. And it would be useless if she did, because obviously he didn't feel that way about her. Besides, even if she did dream about him, you can never get any truth fron interpretting those things. That's why they take place in your sleep, when you're not thinking...

**********************************************************************************************************************************

On Saturday morning, Ron and Harry waited in the common room for Hermione and Ginny so they could go down to breakfast, but after half an hour, they figured they had gone down already. When they got to the table, they saw them sitting at the far end of the table talking. Ginny had a pained look on her face as Hermione went on about something or other. They would have heard if Ginny hadn't gestured that they were coming. As soon as they sat down, Hermione sat up like she had a stick in her back and turned away from them. Ron looked at Ginny, hoping for some sort of explanation, but Ginny responded with a restrained whine. Harry hadn't noticed and asked Hermione if she had understood the transfiguration assignment, but when she answered she insisted on keeping her back to them. Ron kept watching Ginny, hoping she would break and just tell him what was going on, but she only stared at the floor like she was holding some horrible secret. 

"Hermione, what's up with you? Why are you acting so strangely, like we've got measles or something?" 

Hermione didn't respond. Instead, she turned and left the table, walking out of the great hall. 

"What? Was it something I said?" Ron asked, seeing Ginny's expression. 

He decided to follow her and see what was going on. Ron walked into the common roon to find Hermione sitting on a chair doing her work. He had expected her to look up from her book when he walked in, but she didn't. He cleared his throat loudly, but no response. He even sat down next to her, and she still didn't look up. He became distraught and started poking her leg hoping for some sort of acknowledgement, but to no avail. 

"Hermione?" Ron said uneasily. 

"What is it?" she snapped. 

"Er, is something wrong, or are you working on becoming an emotionless hag?" he said, trying to break the ice. 

"Geez Ron, can't you see I'm trying to study?!?" With that she got up, grabbed her books, and stormed down the stairs to the girls' dormitory. 

Ron felt quite out of place. What was going on? He thought about following her to ask her, but instead he chose to avoid the conflict and headed back downstairs to find Harry.

Ron returned to Harry and Ginny in the great hall and sat down, completely flabbergasted and speechless. He spent the rest of breakfast staring at the scrambled eggs with a blank void on his face. Harry looked at Ron with the same expression that Ginny had just fifteen minutes ago. Ginny had told Harry what had happened before they had come downstairs... 

*********

Ginny woke up and looked at the clock by her bed. It was 7:50. She considered going back to sleep, since it was the weekend, but she realized she was hungry so she woke Hermione up and asked her to go downstairs with her. They got dressed, and Hermione suggested that they wait for the guys to come down so they could eat together. They sat waiting for the boys, but after a while Ginny's stomach started growling. 

"Um, do you think they'll mind horribly if we go without them?" she asked with an indecisive and lopsided but adorable-just-the-same grin.

"It's not our fault they won't wake up!" Hermione responded with a derisive laugh.

They headed downstairs without them. They were having quite a pleasant conversation about they were getting the boys for Christmas when they sat down to eat. Ginny was delighted to find scrambled eggs, her favorite, though she was a little frustrated at discovering the glass of pumpkin juice in front of her plate. She looked around unnoticeably, hoping to find a glass of orange juice to switch with, but the only one she could find was in front of Hermione. Luckily for her, Hermione realized that she had left something upstairs. 

"Ginny, I'll be right back!" 

As soon as she switched the glasses, Ginny began to load her plate with food, hoping she came back soon, she didn't want to eat without her. Just then, she turned around to find herself faced with Colin Creevy, who sat down next to her and asked her about their potions class. After she reminded him of the ingredients needed for a successful hate potion and told him, with impressive precision, the exact instructions to follow, he thanked her graciously and left, and Ginny turned back around to find that Hermione had come back. But she had a dazed and somewhat angry look on her face. Concerned, Ginny asked what was wrong, but Hermione didn't respond. She just sat there, gulping down her pumpkin juice. I hope she doesn't notice a difference...Ginny thought as she picked up her glass of orange juice self-consciously. When Hermione finally spoke, the first words out of her mouth were-


	7. Dreaded Disdain

Chapter seven

"Ginny, I absolutely hate Ron Weasley."

Ginny spit out the mouthful of orange juice all over her plate, but Hermione didn't seem to notice.

"Wha-what? What did you say?" Ginny laughed uncomfortably, seriously hoping she was joking.

"I absolutely hate his guts! Everything he does and says just drives me insane!"

From that point on, all she would talk about was how much she hated Ron and how she cringed at the sight of him. Ginny was utterly speechless. She had tried to get a word in earlier, but after a while it seemed pointless. All Ginny could do was sit there and hope that either Hermione got out of whatever weird funk she was in, or that some tragic sudden accident happened and put her out of her misery. I was only when Ron and Harry showed up that Ginny made a face and Hermione stopped. Though relieved by the silence, she felt that the two of them being there would only worsen the situation... 

**********************************************************************************************************************************

The two of them sat in silence as Ron continued to stare at the now cold eggs. He would have eaten if he hadn't lost his appetite, and if his mind weren't so busy trying to figure out what he had down wrong. Harry and Ginny could only look at each other, and they both knew that the other was questioning whether or not to tell him. Ron sighed and decided it was time to play with his food. Ginny looked at him sympathetically and kicked Harry's leg under the table. 

"What do we do?" she mouthed. 

Harry looked back at her, not knowing himself.

"Don't tell him, not yet," he mouthed back. 

Ginny sighed, but she looked at Ron and figured that at least if she told him, he could know what exactly he was moping about... 

"Ron, er, there's something I think I've got to tell you..." 

Ron placed his fork on the table and looked up at Ginny. She could see the pain in his eyes. 

"Hermione, well, she said that...Ron, she said that...Harry?" she couldn't go through with it. 

Harry jolted, not wanting to take on the responsibility, but he knew what he had to do.

"Ron, she said that, well, I guess you could say she's not very...'happy' with you at the moment..." He had tried his best to put it as nicely as he could. 

"What do you mean she's not happy with me? What did she say?" Ron replied, with just a touch of anger in his voice. 

"Well, she said that...she kind of hates you." 

Ron didn't say anything. He continued to stare at Harry with the most frighteningly emotionless face Harry had ever seen. Ginny was rubbing her hands together incontrollably, worried that Ron might do something unexpected. But after a few minutes they decided that he had passed the violent phase. Now they didn't know what to do, so they stayed with him, careful not to say anything, until he was ready to talk. 

Three hours had passed, and Ron still hadn't spoken. Nor had Hermione returned from the girls' dorms. At one point Ginny went in to check on her, and they talked quite civilly about the ball. But at first mention of Ron--just to see how she would react--Hermione's eyes glazed over and she began cursing his name rather loudly. Ginny quickly left, hurried down the stairs, and plopped herself on a chair next to Harry. 

"Any luck?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"::sigh:: No, none at all...what are we going to do? This is really not like her at all, usually she's always cheery when we talk about Ron..." 

She normally wouldn't have said anything like that to her brother's best friend, but at a time like this it proved her point. 

"It would be helpful if we knew what was going on, but that would involve Ron talking, and the chances of that are, well, quite slim." 


	8. Inquisitive Imbroglio

Chapter eight

Ron had spent the last two hours on his bed, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't spoken the entire time. He seemed almost comatose. Knowing Ron, there was practically no chance of him opening up, not anytime soon anyway.

Harry went upstairs to see if Ron was any better, although he highly doubted it. He pulled a chair over next to Ron's bed and sat quietly. Ron was still eyeing the ceiling, and by the looks of it, hadn't mentally noted Harry's presence. Harry tried to respect Ron's current situation, but at the same time he knew that the ceiling wasn't giving him any good ideas on how to solve it. Finally Harry broke the unnerving silence. 

"Look, Ron, I understand that you're not in the best of moods right now, but don't you think you'd have a better use of your time than wallowing in your own despair?"

Harry hadn't really thought of trying to word that nicely while it was coming out of his mouth, but it was a little late now. Besides, not like Ron expected him to be Mr. Sensitivity anyway. After a few minutes and no response, Harry resigned and got up to leave. It was then that Ron at last was able to tear his gaze from his wishful visions on the ceiling and look at Harry. But Harry had already walked out of the room and was heading down the stairs.

It was nearly six o'clock, and neither of them had come out of their dorms. Harry and Ginny were growing restless, so they decided to go down to dinner, thinking that maybe one or both of them would get hungry and come down. They tried to have a normal, cheery conversation, but neither of them could bring themselves to be excited when their best friends were upstairs in distress. Well, Ron was in distress, and Hermione...well, who could know? They sat down at the table and slowly filled their plates. Someone called out Harry's name, and when he turned around to answer what turned out to be Seamus, he noticed a pair of cold eyes staring at him. But this wasn't just a stare; Malfoy had the strangest look of shock and confusion on his face. Harry thought maybe he was looking at someone past himself, but this stare was directed straight at him. Harry turned around, feeling very odd indeed, and pointed this out to Ginny. 

"Ginny, erm...don't make it obvious, but would you look at Malfoy? He looks like a frog jumped down his throat..." 

Ginny moved her head past Harry's and got a good look. What in the...He really did look like something had jumped down his throat. Harry had half a mind to go ask Malfoy what was so interesting, but Ginny dissuaded him, and he sat back down. Harry was a little disconcerted by his stare...it wasn't really a hateful stare, but really more like something was horribly wrong. Even later, as the two of them left for the common room, he could feel Malfoy's eyes on him.

They were about to go up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower when Harry decided he couldn't take anymore. He really wanted to know what was up with Malfoy. He ran back down the stairs and walked right up to Malfoy, with Ginny just ten steps behind him. She looked worried. 

"Alright Malfoy, what the hell is so interesting??" 

"Huh?" Malfoy hadn't even noticed that Harry had approached him, he had been so deep in thought. 

"I asked you what was so interesting..." Harry couldn't help but feel like somewhat of a bully, but this was no time to be nice. 

"Oh, I was just noticing how...together you and Ginny are, that's all..." 

What the hell was that supposed to mean? How together we are? 

Harry tried to figure out what he meant, but nothing could explain it... 

"Is that all then, Potter? You're pathetic excuse of a witch girlfriend is waiting for you." Malfoy sneered and turned back to Crabbe and Goyle. Harry glared threateningly at Malfoy, then turned around to see Ginny's reaction. Good thing she didn't hear that...they both thought to themselves. Harry thought about cursing him really badly, but knew it wasn't worth it. 

"You take that back..."

"Take it back? Are you kidding? That's probably one of the dumbest things I've ever heard! Why would I take it back, huh Potter? Besides, withdrawal of my statement wouldn't relieve it of truth..."

Malfoy almost cackled at Harry's anger. But Harry simply walked away, fire burning dangerously in his eyes. Malfoy definitely seemed back to his usual self, but what Harry couldn't see was that, as soon as Harry and Ginny had placed enough distance between themselves and the Slytherin table, Malfoy went back to staring, and rubbing a phial in his pocket maliciously.

Harry tried to control his anger in front of Ginny; he didn't want to have to tell her what Malfoy had said.

"Did that seem just a bit odd to you? I mean, Malfoy talking about how odd it was that we were together, almost as if he were expecting us not to be..." 

"Harry, are you okay?" she asked, ignoring his last statement. She could obviously read his emotions better than he thought. Harry smiled and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just wish I knew what he was going on about..." 

Wow, this would be so much easier to understand if Hermione were here... 

Then, as if a wish were granted... 

"Harry! I think--oh my gosh, I think I've got it!!" 


	9. Pertinacious Potions

**Chapter nine**

Ginny ran up the stairs as quickly as she could, and Harry ran after her, smiling. He couldn't help but think she sounded a bit like Hermione. 

"S-S-Snickerdoodle!" Ginny gasped as she almost slid past the fat lady. The fat lady gave her a strange look as she clambered inside the portrait hole, then whispered something that sounded almost like "she's quite the odd one, she is.." as she swung closed. Ginny tried to catch her breath, then climbed the stairs to the girls dorm room. She was about to reach into her case to take out a small phial when she stopped in her tracks and noticed that Hermione was already asleep. Ginny sighed, relieved, and walked over to her case. Instead of the phial, she took out a small white bottle, then walked into the bathroom and came out with a glass of water. Ginny observed her for a few moments, then shook her gently.

"Hermione, I need you to wake up..." she whispered.

"Hmm? wha-" 

"Oh, Hermione! How do you feel?" she asked with an achieved grin.

"I feel, well, tired, for one thing...ouch! I've got a really bad headache...do you have something I could take, it's killing me!" 

Ginny calmly opened the bottle and took out two blue pills. She handed them to her along with the glass of water. Hermione gratefully accepted the pills and downed the water. She might have noticed Ginny's a priori intentions if she hadn't been in so much pain and anguish.

Harry was barely out of breath when he made it through the portrait hole. He gave the fat lady the password, but she didn't open until she was able to get her two cents in: "You'd better watch out, that Weasley's a crazy one!" Harry chuckled as he climbed through. _Crazy maybe, but amazing..._

He stopped when he saw Ron sitting in a chair, almost invisible, facing the fire. He looked completely absorbed by the flames. Harry stopped and watched Ron to see if he would notice him. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, Ron lifted his finger and pointed towards the girls' dorm. He didn't even bring his eyes away from the fire, it was like an automated response. 

Harry would have stopped to ask how Ron was, but he was a little preoccupied with Ginny's revelation. Not that he was trying to purposely be a bad friend to Ron, but he figured that it was all right this once since Ron probably wouldn't have talked to him anyway. He ran up the stairs and opened the door without even thinking to knock. He walked in just as Ginny was helping Hermione sit up.

Hermione couldn't figure it out, but Ginny seemed ecstatic about her migrane. She sat down on Hermione's bed and motioned Harry to sit down on the chair next to them. Hermione looked at both of them and held her head in her hands. 

"So Hermione, lemme ask you...have you seen Ron lately?" Ginny asked with a broad grin. 

Harry looked at her with surprise. What, does she WANT to hear Hermione yell again? But this time she didn't yell. 

"Ron? No, I haven't seen him in ages...why? Is he all right? Is something wrong with him? Where is he?" She quickly fumbled with her blankets, possibly to search for him, looking panicked.

Ginny chuckled, but held Hermione back in her bed, while Harry looked astonished. How did she--

"You mean she--she doesn't hate him anymore?" Harry asked, 

still confused. What had been going on? 

"Hate who? Ron? What are you talking about? I don't hate Ron!" 

"Hermione, of course you don't. I knew that wasn't like you at all, I knew it! Try and stay calm, it's gonna hurt for a while...oh, and you'll probably need this," Ginny handed her another blue pill and some more water. 

"Ginny, will you please explain what's going on?" yelled Harry and Hermione at the same time. 

"Okay, okay! I knew that something had to be wrong when you came back into the great hall, because right before you had been so cheery talking about Ron!" 

Hermione blushed. 

"I couldn't figure out what it was though...I thought maybe someone had hit you over the head or something. (she and Harry chuckled at the thought of someone hitting Hermione over the head...) I really had no clue what was going on. I thought really hard about it, until finally I remembered when I had been talking to Colin about the hate potion we've been studying in class!"

She looked at Harry and Hermione, hoping for some sort of praise, or at least some acknowledgement of understanding, but she was met with confounded expressions, so she continued explaining.

"Okay, well the hate potion...basically people make it when they've tried everything else to fall out of love. It's one of those last resort potions I suppose. Anyway, it seems like it would be a perfect potion, because it works for one whole day, until the drinker assumes sleep, which is when the potion wears off, and it only takes one day for the damage to be done-"

"D-damage? What do you mean, damage? What kind of damage?" Hermione cried, worried. Ginny took on a bit of a troubled look now..._How do I explain this to her without making her feel awful?_

"Well, you see, the potion works by, um, causing the drinker to become irrationally cruel to the object of their affection...understand, that's how it works, the drinker suddenly only sees the bad qualities in the person and acts accordingly. See, if you need this potion, you obviously can't get over the person on your own, so the potion just sort of does it for you..."

She could see the hurt in Hermione's eyes, so she stopped.

Hermione was trying to understand all of this. Did this mean that whole time, she had been cruel to Ron? The one person she cared about most? How was this possible? She could only imagine what Ron was thinking right now. Her heart was sinking like a dumbbell in quicksand. She could feel the tears gathering behind her eyes. She looked at Ginny with absolute fear of knowing anymore about the situation, but she asked for more anyway. 

"And why does my head hurt so badly?" she finally was able to get out.

"Well, you see, the potion doesn't let you off completely scot-free, which is why you wake up with a headache; it basically taps into your conscience and returns all of the heartache you've caused the day before in the form of a headache, so, depending on how much heartache you caused the person, your headache will give back proportionally. Clever, isn't it?" she said rather proudly, not realizing she was saying it out loud. She put her hand over her mouth in astonishment and looked at the floor.

Harry had been standing off in the distance for some time now, taking all of this in. Someone gave her a potion to fall out of love with Ron? _So, either someone hates Ron and wants Hermione, or hates Hermione and wants Ron, I suppose. But who even knows about them liking each other? They can't even admit it to themselves! This is ridiculous, someone is obviously really quite jealous... _

"Hermione, what did you do when you came upstairs during breakfast? You know, when you said you had forgotten something?" Ginny asked, trying to put the pieces together. 

Hermione tried not to think too hard, her head was really bothering her. She couldn't help but worry even more, because this obviously meant that she had caused Ron a tremendous amount of agony. She was backtracking through everything she had one that morning…

"Well, let's see, I went up the stairs, and I saw someone standing by the portrait of the fat lady. I looked closer, and it was Lavender and…Ron, I think it was. I stopped to listen to their conversation—not that I would normally do that of course—but I stopped to listen, because I didn't want to be seen by them, for some reason. Um, what were they saying?" she said this last part more to herself.

"They were talking about the ball, and Lavender was asking who he was going with. When Ron told her I had asked him, she scoffed! Ooh, I got so mad I could have strangled her right there, talking about how he should have gone with her instead, and not with a dull bookworm like me…" she could feel her cheeks begin to burn red, and Ginny tried to calm her down a bit. 

"Okay, so that explains why you were so upset I guess. So the question is, who gave it to you? And when? It wasn't when you were upstairs, so the only time it could have been was at—"

Ginny gasped and looked at Hermione, who looked very confused indeed.

"Hermione, I am so, so sorry…"

"What? What do you mean?"

Ginny sighed and struggled to get the words out of her mouth.

"Um, when we got downstairs, I had a glass of pumpkin juice in front of me, and the only glass of orange juice was, well, in front of your plate, so when you went upstairs I uh, switched the glasses…I really hoped you wouldn't noticed, cause I really can't stand pumpkin juice, and…"she gulped abrasively and continued.

"You came back and drank it, so that must mean that the pumpkin juice had the potion in it. But that means—"

Ginny's eyes grew wide as she ran her fingers through her hair. 

"I was supposed to drink the potion," she whispered.


	10. Laconistic Love

**Chapter ten**

Ginny stared into a space somewhere between Hermione's head and the ceiling. She couldn't believe this was happening. Suddenly, Harry spoke up. 

"Ginny, it isn't your fault, you know that. It was a mistake, and there's not much we can do about it. But I wonder, are you sure you were the one supposed to drink it? I mean, what if it was for the person next to you? It's not completely implausible you know…"

But deep down, Harry knew that it really was for her. He just had the feeling. Now it was even worse. Because someone either hated Ginny and wanted Harry, or hated Harry and wanted Ginny…

Ginny must have sensed what he was thinking, because she walked over to him and held him tight. Harry was upset, but was starting to feel a little better. He felt even worse for Ron, because it felt really painful imagining hearing ginny say those things about Harry. It made him feel cold inside.

Meanwhile, Hermione was sitting on her bed suffering a mixture of horrible feelings: her head was still hurting, although not as much as before, her stomach was rumbling from her lack of dinner, but most importantly she felt absolutely horrible about this whole situation. How could she have done something so callous to her best friend? She couldn't even begin to try to fathom what was going on in his mind right now. _He probably hates me...what have I done? How can I possibly fix this?... _No matter what, she knew that she had to talk to him, right that second. She jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs to the common room, leaving Harry and Ginny behind, and sure enough, there was Ron, still hidden in the chair in front of the fire. She hesitated, then took a deep breath and walked right in front on him. 

"Ron Weasley, will you go to the ball with me?" 

For the first time in hours, he looked away from the fire and into Hermione's eyes, and she could practically feel them burning into hers as she anticipated his answer with baited breath.

Ron looked at her like she was an angel sent to save him. He was so astounded by the words that had just come out of her mouth. _Did she just say what I think she said?_ He must not have been conveying his thoughts into his expression, however, because Hermione suddenly went into defnesive mode. 

"Look, I know I've got a LOT of explaining to do, and it won't make very much sense, and I know you probably hate me right now, which of course is perfectly understandable, and I'm so sorry about everything that happened today, I could explain what happened, but the I don't really understand it myself--" 

She hadn't really noticed that Ron had gotten out of his chair until she felt his arms close around her. Everything she had just planned on saying seemed to evaporate into the air, and her legs felt like jelly. Ron held her tightly and couldn't let go. Hermione felt warmth rush through her body as she looked up at him. She simply whispered **_"I'm sorry"_**, and Ron's heart couldn't help but forgive her. He looked at her with an surprising grin on his face. Anyone who had seen Ron earlier would have been in shock at how quickly he had recovered. 

"Yes," he whispered. She dug her head deep into his chest and smiled.

Hermione spent the next 20 minutes trying to make sense of the whole ordeal to Ron, and he was so shocked, but so relieved at the same time. He had been so worried that that was how she really felt, and he had been empty inside all that time... they spent the rest of the night in the common room, laughing about everything that had happened. It was amazing how, even after knowing each other for six years, they were just now finally able to really open up to each other. They talked about everything, from Ron's secret desire to play Quidditch to Hermione's fear of heights. They were both stunned at how much there was to know about a person, and more at how much they had taken for granted by assuming they knew everything about each other. 

For the second time, they fell asleep next to each other, but this time, when they awoke in the morning, neither of them was ashamed or embarrassed. Just glad to still be in the other's arms. 

The ball was in only two weeks, and for those two weeks Hermione was as smitten as a newlywed. They weren't even officially dating, but going to the ball was enough to satisfy Hermione, at least for now... 

It seemed lately that Malfoy was in a particularly rotten mood. Everywhere Harry, Ron, Hermione or Ginny turned, there was Malfoy, ready to shoot them down. Harry couldn't have cared less, if it weren't for the fact that he was becoming the evil version of Fred and George. He was under constant attack from stinkbombs, water balloons, you name it, he'd been hit with it. It got so bad to the point where Harry actually walked up to Malfoy during a Potions lesson and attempted to strangle him. No doubt he got detention and lost 50 points for Gryffindor, but Harry didn't care. He only thought about somehow repaying Malfoy the favor. 


	11. Rampant Revenge

Chapter eleven

The four crusaders were sitting at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast when Ginny was pelted by what seemed to be a spitball. When she reached back to pick it out of her hair, her hand was bitten by a pair of razor sharp teeth, and when she pulled her hand away, the spitball was holding onto her finger for dear life while Ginny screamed in pain. As if that weren't bad enough, ten minutes later Ginny looked down to see purple, itchy spots spreading from her fingertip all the way up her arm. She had to see Madame Pomfrey, and ended up spending the next two days in the hospital ward. 

They had had enough. They unanimously decided to seek revenge. Now all they needed was a plan.

They had decided that, to obtain the best and most successful results, they had to thoroughly plan this out. Hermione and Harry spent lunch periods in the library researching old and exotic potions, while Ron sent letters home asking if they would mind sending him a little extra money for Christmas presents (and besides, it wasn't like he was lying--the results of their ultimate revenge would be Christmas presents enough for everyone). Then Ron sent a letter to Fred and George asking for a few prank toys. They visited Ginny in the hospital several times a day and gave her the update of thier progress. When she finally got out, she too asked for a little spare money. Ginny and Ron knew that, even though their parents would most likely be reluctant to send them more money, it would completely be worth it in the long run. In the meanwhile, Malfoy didn't bother letting up on the pranks, but no matter how frustrated or aggravated the four of them were, they knew that their time would come.

The four of them gathered in the common room late Friday night. Since tomorrow was the weekend, it would be the perfect time to organize a plan of action. Hermione and Harry had found as many complex and strange potions as they could, most of which would be unrecognizable by any Hogwarts student, and even some teachers. The books they had found were so intricate and absurd, some of the potions could make you grow an extra head, give you six fingers, make you glow green or smell strangely of cabbage stew for days on end. Despite the high danger and difficulty factors, Hermione had convinced the rest of them that they could do it. Ron and Ginny had received a surprisingly large amount of money from their parents; Mrs. Weasley refused to reveal the reasoning, but ensured them that they had quite a surprise waiting for them when they returned for the summer holiday. Fred and George had also pulled through quite nicely, sending them hair-sprouting gumballs(they made hair grow randomly around your mouth and hands), fizzy-lifting drinks (*idea courtesy of Mr. Willy Wonka*) and of course, their famous Ton-Tongue Toffees, among other items, along with a letter wishing them luck on whatever prank it was that they were planning. That weekend, they planned to go to Hogsmeade and pick up as many items as they could, and also to see if they could find some of the potion ingredients. They knew it would be absolutely necessary to break into Snape's store of ingredients, but with Harry's cloak and a good alibi that wouldn't be a problem. 

Saturday afternoon, they returned from Hogsmeade loaded with ingredients and items. It was surprisingly impressive how many of the ingredients they could find, especially the more rare ones they thought would be damn near impossible to locate. This meant they only had to steal a few items from Snape's cabinet, so it would be even less of a risk. 

They met again late that night in the common room, after everyone else had gone upstairs. They opened the potion book and set aside each potion's ingredients. They were planning to prepare six potions, and they had all the ingredients for one of them; they were only missing five total, one from each of the others. They decided that it would be best if Ron and Hermione went, so that, if there ever was any suspicion that the four of them were involved, Harry, the most likely and accused target, would be safe in the common room with Ginny, who would be his alibi. Plus, Hermione knew what each of the ingredients looked like, so she would be able to locate them easily and quickly. Ron would go because, well, Hermione couldn't carry everything, but also, and he hadn't told anyone this until now, he had obtained the Maurauder's Map. He had planned on giving it to Harry as one of his Christmas gifts, but it couldn't really wait till then and Harry was still surprised and delighted nonetheless. When Harry asked how he had gotten it after all these years (you know how two years can feel like forever), Ron simply shrugged and smiled.

They planned to set out that night, after the corridors had been abandoned and the teachers had gone off to bed. Finally, at one in the morning, Ron and Hermione pulled on the cloak, waved gooodbye to Harry and Ginny, and climbed through the portrait hole. 


	12. Inevitable Interactions

Chapter twelve

Ron and Hermione quietly made their way down the hall to the stairs. Ron took out the map (it had been so long since any of them had seen it, so no one really remembered where any of the passages were) and tapped it with his wand. 

"Welcome back!" it said in swirly black letters. 

"We were beginning to think you'd left us for good! Don't scare us like that again!" 

"Mr Moony wishes to welcome you back to the lifestyle of the mischievous and crooked, and hopes you enjoy your stay." 

"Mr. Prongs wants to thank you for saving us from the horrid possession of that ugly git Snape, and wishes someone would just slap him already." 

"Mr. Wormtail-" 

"-Stupid prick..." Ron whispered at the sight of his name.-

"-would love it if he got his hands on that obnoxiously greasy jerk Snape…" 

"Mr. Padfoot would appreciate it if a certain pair of lovebirds would wake up and smell the flowers...you know who you are..." 

Ron quickly glanced at Hermione to see if she had been reading with him, but fortunately she had been busy guiding them down the steps. Ron looked back at the map and found their destination. 

"Oh, right, I remember now!" he whispered. "We go down the corridor on the left, right here, and follow it down to this room, yes that's it, and then..." 

They made it to the dungeons, more specifically, Snape's storage cupboard. Hermione looked at Ron, very pleased it seemed, and slowly pulled the cupboard door open. 

Hermione slowly moved the first row of jars over while Ron held up the cloak. There really wasn't much for him to do yet, so he fumbled with the map a bit. Suddenly, as he was abouot to put it away, he noticed some more swirly black letters appear on the page. 

What are you waiting for? 

Ron was confused. Was the map actually talking to him? 

Trust me... 

Ron pretended not to know what the map was saying, even though in the back of his head, he had been thinking about it for quite a while. 

Hermione sighed, sounding worried. 

"Ron, I can't find the first one! I know it's got to be here somewhere...if it's not, I don't know what we'll do." 

Ron hadn't really heard what she said. Instead, he was still thinking about the message on the map and looking at Hermione. He slowly dragged his eyes across every feature of her face, from her frustratingly furrowed eyebrows to her big brown eyes, to the tip of her cute little nose, and down to her puckered-in-deep-thought lips. Hermione was picking up jars and trying to see through the bottoms of them; there was hardly any light at all, and she was becoming really aggravated. Ron watched her and waited...she turned to look at him and hand him a jar when she suddenly felt a pair of soft lips against hers. She was surprised, but pleased, and suddenly every thought left her head except for one: _Ron is kissing me...wow, he's actually kissing me...and I'm not stopping him...wow..._

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, and both of their hearts started pounding intensely. It was so romantic…

They heard a crash and the sound of glass breaking on the floor, but neither of them paid any attention, for they were only aware of each other. Hermione slid her arms around his waist and pulled herself even closer to him. 

Thanks for all the reviews you guys, I really appreciate it! I'm glad you all like it!


	13. Eager Expression

Chapter thirteen 

Eager Expression

"Who's in here?" came a cold, mean voice from the door. Hermione and Ron quickly pulled away and made sure the cloak was completely covering them. They looked down and finally noticed the broken jar on the floor. Too bad it was one of the ingredients they had really needed for the most important potion. But that didn't matter now; they needed to get out of there as quickly as possible without making a sound. Ron looked at the door to find Filch looking around the room with his nose scrunched so far into his face he resembled a rabbit. He noticed the jar on the floor and slowly made his way across the room to get a closer look. Ron tugged at Hermione's arm and pulled her towards the door. They were almost out until Snape suddenly entered the room three inches in front of them. They stood as still as possible, and Hermione was so nervous she held her breath. Snape remained at the doorway, their only way of escape, as he looked over to where Filch was standing. Finally he walked over to Filch, and the two of them were able to sneak out the door. They ran as quickly as they could, and Ron remembered that he still had the map clutched in his hand. He opened it up to find their way back, but before he could get a good look, he felt himself being dragged. By the time he realized what was happening, they were out of sight. He looked around and saw that they were inside a broom closet. Ron was about to open his mouth to ask what the hell was going on, but Hermione put her hand over his mouth and took out her wand. 

"Serratura," she whispered, placing the wand back in her pocket. Ron looked puzzled. _Why did she just lock the door?_ But he caught on quickly enough. He could see the want in her eyes, and she could see it in his. 

She leaned into him and put her mouth so close to his that they both froze in anticipation. Neither of them could breath they were so entranced. They just stood there, not really sure what the other was thinking. Finally, Ron couldn't take anymore. He touched his lips to hers, and she immediately felt that same surge of electricity run through her body. In that one instant, everything around them dissolved into thin air. She slowly brought her arms around him, and without knowing it, began to trace circles on the nape of his neck. He felt his knees go weak and fought hard not to collapse. They were so wrapped up in the moment that nothing could disturb them. (Don't worry, they didn't go that far. Not yet anyway…)

Thanks for the reviews guys, more is coming soon!


	14. Need for a Niche

Chapter fourteen

Need for a Niche

By the time Hermione and Ron returned to the common room, Harry and Ginny were fast asleep on the sofa. They were dead tired, and had just remembered about the potion ingredients. Ron laid Harry's cloak on a chair and went upstairs for a blanket. He draped it across the sleeping duo and watched Hermione as she walked sleepily over to the stairs. _I can't believe I just spent an hour in a broom closet with Hermione…it was so unexpected of her. But wow, she's an amazing kisser…_

He walked up to her and took her hand in his. He whispered **'goodnight'** in her ear, kissed her softly on her lips, and watched her smile and head upstairs. He saw to it that Ginny and Harry were okay on the sofa, then headed up the stairs to his own dormitory. He got dressed for bed, and even though he was tired he couldn't fall asleep. All he could think about was Hermione and that last hour in the broom closet…He laid there, staring at the ceiling once again, for who knows how long. He finally felt his eyes getting heavy, so he turned over and began to fall asleep. He was almost there a few minutes later when he heard the door open. He didn't open his eyes, thinking it was Harry. But he got a bit of a surprise when he felt a breeze. He realized that his covers had been lifted, and suddenly there was someone in bed with him. He turned over and saw her, laying there, looking up at him. She closed her eyes and placed her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers, and within ten minutes they were fast asleep. 

The next morning, Harry woke up next to Ginny. He watched her as she lay there, sleeping peacefully. He wanted to let her sleep, of course, but he couldn't help but wake her. He wanted to talk to her so badly, he couldn't contain himself. He gently tapped her arm and called out her name quietly. She turned over, and eventually she opened her eyes. She smiled as soon as she saw that it was Harry lying next to her. 

"**Hey there**," he whispered. 

"**Good morning**," she whispered back, grinning.

Before Harry could get another word in, she pecked him on the lips. He grinned and pecked her back. He started tickling her until she couldn't take it anymore and rolled onto the floor. Harry put his hand out to help her up, but she proved impressively strong and pulled him down instead. Once they were both on the floor, Ginny decided to plant a real kiss on him, and Harry didn't really object at all. It was right after their embrace when Ginny realized that they hadn't seen Ron and Hermione before they had fallen asleep. 

"Harry, do you think Hermione and Ron are alright? I mean, we didn't see them at all last night after they left, what if they got caught?"

Harry was worried for only a second before he noticed his cloak hanging on one of the chairs. 

"Ginny, they made it back, the cloak is on that chair…why don't you see how Hermione is? And ask her if they got the potion."

Ginny kissed Harry once more, then took herself up the stairs to the girls' dorm room to visit her. But she was a little surprised to find an empty bed. She went downstairs looking puzzled.

"Harry, she's not in there…"

The two of them went upstairs to the boys' dorm now to see Ron, and when they walked in, Harry heard Ginny swoon.

Ron and Hermione had spent the whole night in each other's arms, exactly as they had fallen asleep, with her head on his chest and his head resting on hers. Ginny thought they looked positively adorable. They watched them for a little while, then decided it was best to leave them be, as it would probably be quite embarrassing and most likely ruin the moment if they were to wake up with an audience. 

Ron didn't wake up for another two hours. He was about to roll over like he usually did when he suddenly realized that someone was in his arms. He looked down and almost yelped. _Hermione is in my bed? In my arms? With me?_ But he wasn't uncomfortable; in fact, he was probably the most comfortable he had ever been with anyone in his life. He rest his head back on hers and closed his eyes. _This is so nice…_And then it hit him like a ton of bricks—everything that had happened last night came flooding back into his mind. Suddenly he felt the urge to pull away. It got very awkward…okay, so they weren't dating, but they were snogging madly in the broom closet…what did that mean? Did she like him? He wasn't even sure if he liked her! No, he was pretty sure, there was no use in trying to lie to himself about it now…he looked at her and could feel his adoration as strongly as ever, but did she return the sentiments?

Ron refused to believe anything other than a simple no. What was there to like? She had everything going for her, and what did he have? Six siblings. A pet rat gone bad. An old senile owl who was practically helpless, and a young obnoxious owl who got on his nerves. A small house, little money, dumb garden gnomes…but worst of all, according to Ron anyway, he had no niche. Bill was a brilliant banker in Egypt, Charlie worked wonders with dragons in Romania, Percy was perfectly pompous with his job in the ministry, and Fred and George were prodigal pranksters with their own joke factory and several chain stores to boot. Even Ginny was better off than he was: she was a prefect! So what could he possibly do that Hermione could find remotely interesting or worthwhile? He decided right then and there that it was time he found his niche as well.


	15. Ardent Affection

Chapter fifteen

Ardent Affection

Ron lay there, with the girl of his dreams sleeping in his arms, contemplating. What was there to do? He wasn't superbly good at classes, he definitely wasn't prefect or head boy material, and he really couldn't do anything else special…

_Quidditch…_he thought to himself just as Hermione began to stir. 

His face lit up. _I'll try out for Quidditch! Why didn't I think of that before? What a good idea! They need a new keeper, Brandon Arwood dropped out this year because of his studies, so there's an opening! And Harry's captain, so even if there's a lot of competition, I've got connections…_

The ideas were simply brewing in his head. He couldn't have been more excited! He was about to win over his love. 

Ron closed his eyes again, and as he fell asleep again, Hermione awoke. 

She opened her eyes to find Ron lying next to her, his arm around her waist. She looked around and saw that she was in the boys' dorm room, and she jumped a little. She knew she wasn't supposed to be in there, what if someone came in and saw them? Or worse, what if the others woke up and saw her there? She was going to make her escape. She glanced back down at Ron's sleeping form and smiled. Last night had meant so much to her. She wanted so badly to stay there with him, but she knew they'd both be mortally embarrassed if they were caught. After a few minutes she was finally convinced to tear herself away. She slowly slid out of the bed, moved the covers back over Ron, and leaned in and lightly kissed him on the neck. She silently tiptoed to the door and headed downstairs, with one more backward glance to her love.

Thank you guys so much for the reviews, please keep reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it and I'm glad you all like it so much! And sorry this chapter was so short, but more is definitely coming soon!!!


	16. Hagrid's Hut

Chapter sixteen

Hagrid's Hut

That night at dinner, the four crusaders were discussing their failed revenge plot. Since the jar had been dropped, they had no potion ingredients, and they wouldn't dare to go back for more, not soon anyway, since it would be too risky. Filch would probably be pitching a tent by the dungeons any moment now. When Harry asked how it so happened that the jar broke, Ron blushed furiously and seemed to be suddenly quite interested in his peas, while Hermione stuttered the moment she tried to speak; she ended up saying that she had been scared by a noise, although none of them believed it, not even Ron could go along with it…Harry decided it best not to push the subject. He had already been catching the reminiscent looks Ron and Hermione had been throwing each other the whole night. Every time Ron put his fork in his mouth, Hermione would look up at him adoringly, and every time he looked up, thinking he was being watched, he would start watching her himself. Harry also noticed the look of disappointed support on Ginny's face, so he slid his foot over to hers under the table and began a rousing game of footsie, which lasted the rest of dinner, and put a large grin on her face. 

They were about to head back upstairs when Harry heard his name. Hagrid was approaching them with a warm smile. 

"Hey all, I've got something special for all of yah, if you want it…"

Of course, they all loved Hagrid, and they weren't about to turn down any gifts, so they gladly followed him to his hut. They stepped inside and felt the warmth of the fire spread over their bodies. Fang rushed over to Ron and licked his hand, and Ron happily pet his large head. The soft chairs seemed to envelope them when they sat down, but they definitely didn't mind, they were far too comfortable.

As soon as everyone was settled and Hagrid had given them each a plate of lockjaw treacle pudding, Hagrid retrieved four packages from under his bed. 

"Open 'em!" he said cheerfully, anticipating the joy on their faces.

Please read and review!!!!


	17. Odd Offerings

Chapter seventeen

Odd Offerings

Harry opened his first and faced an old, tattered book. He looked at the front and back covers and observed that it seemed to have been through a lot, perhaps a fire or something. He opened to the first page and began to read:

**_Thursday, December 25th_**

**_I just received this journal from Sirius for Christmas. It was obvious he gave it to me as a joke but I figured why not? So here I am, writing my first journal entry. Hmm, what to write about? Well, today we found another secret passageway to add onto the map. Remus accidentally bumped into the wall of a fourth floor hallway, but we didn't get to discover where it leads to, just because we only got halfway down the passage before it was time for Potions. But we plan to head back down there tonight. I hope it leads to somewhere useful, like the dungeons or something, cause we really could use some more gillyweed. We're still trying to find a way to sneak out to the lake and visit the squid- _**

Harry stopped reading and looked up at Hagrid. For the first time he could remember, he actually had tears in his eyes. This was his father's journal. He was actually reading his father's journal. He flipped through the rest of the pages with awe. He looked back at Hagrid with a huge grin on his face. Hagrid simply smiled back. The other three looked over his shoulder to read what was so amazing. Simultaneously, they all gasped and looked at Hagrid as well. 

"How did you get this?" Harry asked, astonished.

"Well, I've got me ways..."

Harry smiled, and resumed reading while Hermione was next to open hers. She carefully ripped open the paper and found a mirror. She looked into it and at first was met with her own reflection. But after a few moments, she noticed the surface of the mirror swirl, and she pressed her face even closer to it. It came into focus and revealed Ron and herself, walking up a flight of stairs, hand in hand…Ron looked back at her and smiled…Hermione laughed inside at the thought of her and Ron holding hands.The mirror began to swirl again, and then Hermione once again saw her own reflection. She looked at Hagrid, obviously holding back a few conflicting thoughts, but smiled just the same. It was a really interesting gift, she thought. 

Next was Ginny. 

She was hoping that her gift would be just as cool as the last two...

She took off her wrapping paper with a bit less patience than Harry and Hermione, but she kept it well intact just the same. In her hand sat a phial of dragon's blood. Ginny gasped and almost dropped the bottle on the floor, but luckily she caught it just in time. She stared at the phial with shock. They had, of course, all learned about all the uses of dragon's blood, but these days it had become so rare, since dragons had become an endangered species, that none of them had ever expected to see any. How did Hagrid do this? Where was he getting all of this from? However he was doing it, none of them really wanted to ask. They were far too engrossed in their presents, and now it was Ron's turn. 

Ron was wondering what could be as unbelievable as the last three presents, but he opened his with as much anticipation as ever. When he finally got the paper off, his disappointment was almost as high as his anticipation had just been. He was looking at a key. A particularly old looking key, with an intricate design in the handle. Ron thought it was very pretty, but he couldn't help but feel at least a little let down. I mean, Harry got a journal, Hermione a possibly-fortune-telling mirror, Ginny got dragon's blood, and he gets a key? He still showed his gratitude, although Hagrid could see the confusion and slight upset in his face.

"Ron, I know you can't appreciate it now, but don't worry, you will find some use for it..."

Hagrid smiled at them all and noticed the time. 

"Oh dear, you'd better be heading off, it's getting a bit late."

And with that, they thanked Hagrid for the pudding and gifts, and headed across the lawn. As they headed up the stairs, they noticed Malfoy sitting with Crabbe and Goyle. But instead of them finding some way to taunt them as usual, they just sat there looking morose and quiet. Harry could overhear a little bit of their conversation...

"Well, I'd better go upstairs and pack…?" said a sullen voice. Harry looked and saw Crabbe walk out into the hallway and pass the crusaders without so much as a glance. He headed towards the dungeons.

They headed up the stairs, wondering where Crabbe was going...

THANKS SO VERY MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS!!!!! PLEASE KEEP READING AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT, YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!!


	18. Feasible Feelings

Chapter eighteen

Feasible Feelings

They must have spent a long time wondering that night, because they all woke up in the common room the next morning. Ron had fallen on the floor in his sleep and had his arms and legs spread out every which way. It looked like he had fallen like that from a tall building. Ginny and Harry had been laying in opposite directions on the same couch, so Harry was holding Ginny's foot like a teddy bear, while Ginny was half over the armrest on the other side. Hermione had woken up early and was lucky enough to have time to straighten herself up before everyone else woke up and saw them like this. No one else knew it, but she had been under the chair cushion. How she got there was a complete mystery, and no one would ever find out. She sat on the chair, watching them in amusement, waiting either for them to wake up, or for everyone to come downstairs and see them in their beautiful sleep.

Ginny woke up first when she slid off the armrest and hit her head on the floor. Harry, subconsciously noticing the absence of his "teddy" foot, woke up next. Hermione suppressed her laughter and Ginny fought her way off the floor and back onto the chair. Harry smirked as he noticed Ron's spread eagle and quickly woke him up. Just then, everyone was descending their respective staircases and entering the common room. They hadn't seen their previous positions, but they could still well assume that they had spent the night together. 

"Oooh, looks like they're at it again, this time they've Harry and Ginny along for the fun..."

"Seems to be getting a little rowdy down here, eh guys?"

The three of them blushed while Hermione laughed deviously. They hadn't caught her that time! Or had they...

"Hermione, don't think you got away with this, we all know you were down here sleeping as well!"

She could feel her face turn red, and now all four of them were blushing like mad. They knew that if they ran away, it would only make things worse, so they could only sit there in their own embarrassment and wait for everyone to leave. You would think that they would be used to this sort of thing by now...

Finally everyone had left, and they had all decided that they had pretty much lost their appetites. Instead, the four crusaders spent the day in the common room, examinig their presents. Harry was curled up in a chair, reading his father's journal, and at the really funny parts he would read out loud to the rest of them. Hermione sitting on the floor, still skeptical about the veritability of her mirror. She had never believed in those sorts of things, but then again, perhaps now was the time to start. She kept fiddling with it, waiting for it to stop swirling from the last time to make it swirl again. Ginny had gone to the library and returned with a book describing the twelve uses of dragon's blood. Of course, they had learned them years ago, but none of them could remember what they were--Hermione remembered five of them, but even her memory was a little rusty--and now that Ginny had some, she should plenty well know what it does. And, over in the corner of disappointment, sat Ron, against the wall, staring at his key. _There was no way I'll be able to find a use for this_, he kept thinking pessimistically to himself. He did acknowledge its intricate beauty, but still, it was a key. Everyone else had received such obviously useful gifts, but Ron's had no visible significance. Ron figured he might look up the design of the key and see if he could maybe find what it opened. He went to the library and looked for something on designs. He came back with a large, stained book and plopped it into his lap.

By the end of the day, he had looked through every page of that book, but found nothing. Now he even felt animosity towards the key, more than when he first got it. He figured he could get Hermione's help with researching it, she was always good at that stuff. Speaking of Hermione, he had been knowingly keeping her in the back of his mind for the whole day. About that kiss, her locking him in the closet, that kiss, holding his hand on the way back to the common room, that kiss, coming to sleep in his bed afterwards, and that kiss...possibly one of the greatest moments of his entire life. He remembered every little thing that led up to it, and everything that happened afterwards, but his memory of what happened in between was blurred by a rush of blood to the head. It was all just so intense and incredible that he couldn't recall any specific thought that was running through his head during that time. He assumed the worst in that Hermione had forgotten all about it, and if she hadn't, then it didn't make a difference either way, because she didn't care for him that way. He convinced himself that it they were just a spur of the moment things and that, under normal circumstances, it would have never happened. They just happened to be madly in love with each other, that's all. No big deal.

Hermione had been thinking about Ron all day. It was so cute how he had been spread out on the floor in his sleep. Even though she was interested in her present, she couldn't help thinking about their kiss...She decided that, in an effort to distract herself, she would keep looking into the mirror and see what events would take place in the "near future," but even then she found herself trying to see things that involved Ron. She wondered how he felt about the kiss, and decided to talk to him about it when more people cleared out of the common room. Meanwhile, she watched him play with his key and couldn't help but chuckle when he tried to eat it out of frustration. She would be glad to help him figure out what it went to, if only he would ask.

Thanks for all the reviews, please keep reading! I appreciate your time and consideration! (there I go sounding all adult and corporate…sorry!) anyway, I hope you enjoy this one! The next one's coming tomorrow!


	19. Depressing Departure

Hey guys! Thank you soo very much for reading my story! I'm glad you all like it, and thanks for noticing the title names! I thought they were cute, I'm glad someone noticed! Anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you all keep reading and reviewing it! Thank you all! I love you!!!!

Chapter nineteen

Depressing Departure

It was only a week to go until the ball, and the halls were teeming with excitement and anticipation. Ginny and Hermione had ordered their gowns through owl-mail, and were expecting them any day now. Almost everyone had a date, and now more than ever Ron was glad that Hermione had asked him. He fell into a daze every time he thought about dancing with her. It was becoming difficult for him to pay attention during his classes, but he didn't really care. All that mattered was Saturday night. Even though it hadn't happened yet, it was already the best night of his life. 

The four crusaders were sitting in the crowded common room. Harry and Ginny were playing wizard chess, and Hermione was teasing Ron about his key, much to Ron's dismay. Suddenly, Harry remembered that he hadn't written Sirius in a while, so, after excusing himself from the game, he headed upstairs to retrieve some parchment and a quill. He came back down to find that his place had been taken by a frustrated Ron. He wasn't the only frustrated one though: when Harry was playing, Ginny had been winning, but now that she was facing Ron…

Harry sat down at the table and unrolled the parchment and bit the end of his quill. _What to write, what to write…_ he thought. Finally, he put the quill to the paper and began to write freely.

**_Dear Sirius,_**

****

**_ How are you? I haven't heard from you in a while, and it may be because I haven't written in a while, I'm sorry about that. Then again, you're probably caught up in your trial business. Well, things have been a little busy around here, the Christmas ball is coming up soon, so everyone seems to be quite excited. Can't say I'm not excited as well…Anyway, how are things with you these days? I hope the trials finish soon, and that everything goes well. Write back and tell me how they go, all right? Hope to hear from you soon._**

****

**_Harry_**

He reread his letter, and, feeling satisfied, rolled it up and set off toward the owlery. He told the others where he was headed as he stepped out of the portrait hole. He left to find Hedwig, but on his way to the staircase, he heard the rustling of footsteps coming down the stairs. For some reason, he felt like he didn't want to be seen, so he hid behind the corner to see who it was. He first saw the person's large feet and knew immediately that it was Crabbe. He had the most morose look on his face, and Harry could only imagine what he was going through. It had turned out that Crabbe was leaving, and for some reason he probably wasn't returning. Crabbe slowly made his way down the hallway and down the stairs, out of sight. Harry didn't know it then of course, but that would be the last time Harry would ever see him alive.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry headed back to the common room after sending Hedwig off with Sirius' letter feeling a little down. No one, except for Malfoy and Goyle likely, knew why exactly it was Crabbe was leaving. He was wondering sadly what had happened. He thought that it was surely going to be a quiet rest of the evening. But his mood changed when he made it back through the portrait hole. Every horrible thought left his mind when he walked in and saw Ginny sitting on a chair looking at the gift he had given her with the most appreciative look in her eyes. _She really is beautiful, isn't she? And she loves me, she said it. She actually told me she loves me..._

It was as though he had heard it again for the first time. He sat next to her, and she looked up at him, smiling. He felt so incredible, knowing that she really did care for him. She slipped the gift back into her pocket and wrapped her arms around her lovely Harry, and she inhaled deeply. She felt so lucky...

On the other side of the room, Ron had challenged Hermione to a game of wizard chess. She accepted, knowing well that she would lose, but for some reason she couldn't turn down the dare. They spent the entire game in gales of laughter, Ron beating her mercilessly as Hermione could only watch her pieces be destroyed. This is so nice, he thought. I wonder what she's thinking...

He couldn't know it, but Hermione was thinking the exact same thing. Only, at the same time, she was thinking about the ball the next night. I wonder what will happen. Will he kiss me again? Though her initial hope was no, she couldn't help but hope he did.


	20. The Encouraging Eavesdrop

Chapter twenty

The Encouraging Eavesdrop

Yay! Time for the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I've been reading other people's stories and noticed that you all have a "disclaimer". At first I was blinded by its immense beauty, and then I realized that, if I want to be cool, I should have one as well. As I am disgustingly self-conscious and insecure, I find it necessary to take whatever steps needed to feel comfortable with myself, so I have consulted with my therapist, who has informed me to…well, alright, you all get the point, I'm a dumb blind follower, so now I have a disclaimer too. And it says:

"HAHA! You are too dumb to own Harry Potter! Who do you think you are? Dumb mortal!!"

Sheesh, no one told me disclaimers were so unforgivably and unrelentingly cruel…I guess that means I really don't own Harry Potter or any of his friends…*sobs*… 

Aaaaaaanywhoozle, on with the story!

Chapter twenty

The Encouraging Eavesdrop

Ron woke up with a start and looked at the clock. _5:30...who in their right mind wakes up at 5:30?? _He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so he rolled off the bed and headed downstairs. He was almost on the last step when he heard Hermione talking to Ginny. His initial reaction was to turn around and head back upstairs, because for some reason he didn't want to see her before the ball. He thought it might be bad luck or something--seems as though Ron's been to a few too many weddings--but just as he was headed back upstairs he heard his name. He smirked slyly and quietly sat down at the foot of the steps to listen.

"You and Ron going to the ball together! That is so cute! I knew you guys had something going on--"

"Ginny, just because we're going to the ball doesn't mean something's going to happen..." she knew inside that wasn't really how she felt.

"Just give it up already Hermione, you and I both know that you're crazy for him! Why can't you just admit it?" Ginny pushed.

"Because that would involve actually liking him!" she said just a little too loudly. She wasn't ready for that yet, she wasn't even sure if she did. Had she turned her head, she would have noticed the look of slight hurt on Ron's face.

"Hermione, I know you don't want to like him, cause it would be weird, but I know you do, and you do too! Come on, can you honestly tell me that you don't like him, even just a little bit?" Ginny smiled.

Hermione paused. She wanted to say yes, but unfortunately, something was keeping her from lying...

"No! Of course I like him! Are you kidding me?" before she could say anymore she slapped her hand across her mouth and stared at Ginny in shock of herself. Ginny grinned in victory. Thankfully, Hermione was too in shock to notice Ginny wink at the stairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ron headed back up the stairs, an incontrollable grin spread across his face. _She likes me, I can't bloody believe it...She really does like me!_ He could barely contain himself as he walked through the door of the boys' dorm. He collapsed onto his bed and smiled at the ceiling, as though he and the ceiling were sharing some delicious secret. Just then, Harry turned in his sleep and nearly fell off the bed. He caught himself and sat up, rubbing his eyes and reaching for him glasses. He looked over to see if Ron was awake, and he was about to say 'good morning' when he noticed the look of euphoria on his face.

"Well, what are you so pleased about?" he asked smirking.

"Oh, nothing. I just had a nice dream, that's all." he replied with a dreamy sigh.

It wasn't like he was lying, for it seemed as though it all really was a dream...

After four hours of staring up at the ceiling, Harry couldn't take anymore. What is he doing? I don't get it, when he's upset, he stares at the ceiling, when he's happy, he stares at the ceiling! You'd think he thought the ceiling were Hermione or something..."

He decided that enough was enough and threw a pillow at Ron's head. Ron yelped like a frightened dog and sat up bolt right.

"What was that for? What are you trying to do, kill me?" Ron apparently had been scared half to death. that ceiling must have been pretty interesting...

"Ron, maybe you haven't noticed, but you haven't moved from that one spot in four hours! You have gone completely mental! What is going on with you?" Then again, did he really have to ask? He knew it must have been Hermione-related.

"I told you, nothing's wrong, I just didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all." He got up off of his bed and ran his hand through his hair. After a few moments of silence, during which Harry watched Ron pace back and forth across the room, Ron looked at Harry.

"Did you say four hours?"

-------------------------------------------------------------

Some people I'd like to thank: 

Wendy! Thanks so much! I really appreciate what you said, and I'm so glad you like it so much! Thank you for reading!!!

Allie! Thanks so much for staying with my story! And I love yours!!!

MUH!!!(whoever you are!!) Thanks for being honest, and I'm glad you like it anyway!

And everyone else who's read it! I would list you all, but that would require extra thinking, and for reasons why that is impossible, see post below.

I'm sorry if I appear to be going insane, it's just that it's winter break now, and it seems that freedom has a strange affect on me. Or maybe it's because I've turned off my brain, since I won't be needing it for a while. Anyway, just don't mind me. Enjoy the story! And unfortunately, I'll recover soon. So don't worry. Not that you would. Did I mention I have the tendency to ramble? Didn't think so…


	21. Sneaky Shoes

Time for the next chapter!!! Yeehaw!! 

A/N: Sorry this one's a little shorter (:cough cough: MUH!: cough cough::) (I loooooove you MUH!!!) but I really wanted to get to the ball, it's fun! So I wrote as quickly as I could…anyway, you'd all better like this chapter or I'll come after each and every one of you and…I'm really not much of a threatening person, am I? Okay then, while I lower my head in shame, here's the disclaimer…

Disclaimer: Okay all of yas, since Christmas is coming up, I know you want to get me a present. Okay, all I want is to own Harry Potter!! Seriously, that's it! That's all I ask! I will be perfectly content with that. What's that? You mean, I can't have Harry Potter for Christmas? Well why not?!?! WHAT?!?! Somebody else owns him??? Well, bloody hell!!! My Christmas is now ruined…

I guess that means I really don't own Harry Potter…

*sobs* Well, I guess we should, sniff, carry on then…

Chapter twenty-one

Sneaky Shoes

Hermione was sitting with Ginny upstairs in their dorm when they heard a tap on the window. Hermione looked over to see an owl carrying quite a large package. She leapt up with excitement and opened the window to let him in. As soon as the owl left, they opened the package to find two gorgeous dresses. Hermione's held hers up and looked at it admiringly. It was black satin with lace cap sleeves and a black lace over-slip. The lace pattern was made of small black flowers, and it fell mid-calf. She was so incredibly excited for that night that she could barely stay still.

Ginny laid hers on her bed and smoothed it out. It was light blue, with thin straps and a small elegant bow in the back. It fell to her ankles and on the bottom, was a little higher in the front than it was in the back.

They both looked at their dresses, and imagined walking down the steps to meet their dates...

The ball started in only an hour, and anticipation and anxiety ran all throughout the Gryffindor tower. Ginny was so nervous she would have fainted had Hermione not been keeping her up. Ginny didn't know how Hermione was keeping her cool so well, but she didn't ask. She was too mentally preoccupied. Hermione was plenty nervous as well, but she tried her hardest to remain calm. _Besides, it's just a ball, what is there to be so worked up about? I'm only going with my best friend, the guy I've liked for just about forever. So no pressure, really. _Just as soon as she had her dress on, she noticed that she couldn't find her shoes...

Okay, they were here a minute ago...alright, this really isn't funny, where are my shoes?

She really couldn't find her shoes anywhere. Ginny hadn't seen them, and neither had any of the other girls. Lavender smiled evilly as Hermione searched frantically under all of the beds. _Haha, looks like Granger can't find her shoes...what a pity. Lucky for me then! _

Meanwhile, Ron was waiting with Harry downstairs. They had been ready for about ten minutes, because frankly, guys don't have much to do to get ready. Harry was circling around the room like a vulture, and everyone was watching him strangely. Odd how Harry and Ginny were the nervous ones, when they were already dating and really had nothing to be nervous about...Harry's pacing was making Ron antsy, so he got up to stop him. He followed Harry around the room (Harry refused to stand still) when he noticed a pair of black shoes halfway under the chair. He stopped and picked them up, and wondered who they belonged to. He sat down again and held them, somewhat drawn by them. He heard a commotion at the top of the stairs and looked up. It sounded like someone was being pushed or pulled, and suddenly Ginny appeared, looking spectacular. Harry stopped pacing and looked at her with marvel in his eyes.

"Er, we have a bit of a problem...Hermione can't find her shoes." she murmured.

Ron looked down at the shoes in his hands and chuckled.

"Could these be them?"

Ginny couldn't help but laugh. She headed back up the stairs and managed to get Hermione downstairs. Ron's heart stopped for a brief moment as he looked at her. Wow, she looks...amazing...Hermione blushed when she saw Ron look down at her feet. Instead of laughing, he bent down and held out one of the shoes. He gently lifted her foot off of the floor and slipped in into the shoe. He slipped on the other one, stood up, and took Hermione's hand.

Harry and Ginny watched as Hermione slid her arm around Ron's. They couldn't help but be happy for them, it was about time they realized how they felt about each other! Hermione could feel the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She was so nervous that she tightened her grip on Ron's arm without knowing it. Ron noticed though, and smiled. she really does like me, doesn't she.. He looked at her, and he could see the excitement in her eyes.

Ron and Hermione walked down the stairs, arm in arm. Ron wanted more than anything to just swoop her away from everything and just kiss her again, and everything would dissolve into thin air like it did before...but now was definitely not the time. So instead, he kept his hopeful dreams in the back of his mind and continued down the stairs.

When they entered the Great Hall, it was beautifully decorated with floating candles, wreaths, a gigantic Christmas tree, and...What was that? Ron and Hermione both thought to themselves as something tiny and red flew by. But as soon as they asked themselves, they heard Seamus from a few feet away talking about how he had helped them catch fireflies for the room. There were hundreds of them, and they were of all different colors: red, blue, white, purple...and they were exquisite. Hermione watched in awe as they simply floated in the air like free Christmas lights, zooming around and sparkling. She was already thinking how romantic it all was, especially with the stars floating above their heads on the ceiling. The night sky was perfect, without a cloud in the sky. Ron was thinking about it too. In fact, even Harry and Ginny were thinking about it. Not only about each other, but also about Hermione and Ron. Ginny knew that Ron had something planned. She could tell; he was just like that. She smiled thinking about it; it was about bloody time something happened.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! I'm so glad you all like my story! Lucky I have a heart, cause for a second I was considering waiting a few more day until I updated…haha, I know, I'm cruel! But no, I didn't do it! Why??? BECAUSE I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Okay, but next time, you all might not be so lucky…MWAHAHAHA!!!

Ah, who the hell am I kidding? I'm like a slave to you guys, if I don't post everyday I'll feel bad!!! I'd also be scared that you guys might pelt me with rocks relentlessly…


	22. Inopportune Interference

Hey guys!!! Thanks so very much for all of your reviews! I think they give the story a little more…personality. HA! Okay, well, I'm just too durn lazy to list all the cool people who spend their precious time reading my story, even though I love you all! Maybe next time when I have some more motivation I'll name you all. Or at least the ones I like. Like all of you with names that start with m. MUH, for example, or Mary Stardust. Or even Misa, and Mag, and Mariadel, and MFCA. Or maybe the letter a, like Allie or Annie, or Ali Simmons. I like that letter too. I also like names that start with the letter h, like Heather (my partner in crime!!), Hermandron4ever, hermionereincarnated, and Hermione18. Or how about the lovely letter r, like Racer of lightning and Rupert Fan. And then there's the letter c, like Curlsofgold. And how about the letter l, as in lilyevans24. Ooh, oh, there's the letter w, for Wendy, and the letter k, for kickedoutofthegoblet, and g for Gigaku, ands for Simone, v for venus, d for dreamkin, t for Taryn, b for Berta501 and Bella Black, n for nightshadow67, and z for zdriu…::pant pant:: wow. Such beautiful letters! I think that's about it. No wait, then there's even THE COOLEST!!! Yes, even the coolest reviewed my story!! Well, I guess that all of your reviews were enough motivation to list all of you, so I guess that must mean it's enough to inspire me to write more!!! Thanks you guys! And sorry that took up so much time and space. But I wanted all of you to feel loved as I do!! And now, on to the disclaimer!!! 

Oh, and if I missed anyone, which I highly doubt, cause I checked my list twice!!, then you have permission to shoot me with a pineapple gun for as long as you please. I like pineapple!

Disclaimer: Yes, yes, yes, we all want to own Harry Potter, (and yes, even more so for Ron, Allie!), but unfortunately, I am neither rich, English, or pregnant (yay for her!), and therefore could not possibly be J.K. Rowling. Further proof that I do not own Harry Potter. Or Ron, for that matter. Damn! Although I still have my dreams…

Chapter twenty-two

Inopportune Interference 

The four of them were looking for a table when Hermione heard someone call her name. She turned around and saw Lavender and Parvati gesturing for her to join them. She grabbed Ron's arm protectively, then asked the others if they wanted to sit with them. Ron's eyes grew a little large, but Harry and Ginny didn't notice, so they said sure. The four of them walked over to Lavender's table and sat down. Ron could feel Lavender looking at him, and it made him nervous. He decided to walk around for a bit.

"Er, I have to ask Seamus something, I'll be back in a few minutes..."

He stood up and took off in Seamus' direction.

"What was that all about?" Ginny asked, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Lavender turned towards Hermione, resting her chin on her hand and grinning broadly.

"So, Hermione, you and Ron at the ball together...are you two dating?"

"Well, er, no, come to think of it, we're not." she said, a little sadness in her voice.

Lavender smiled even more.

"Oh really? Well, why not? Hasn't he asked you yet? I mean, to be his girlfriend? I mean, you two seem to be quite close really, what with waking up in the same bed and all..."

Hermione blushed like mad. _How did she know?_

"I mean, if I were that close with a person, I'd want to be their girlfriend, don't you think? If it were me, why I'd be a little worried that he was, well, using me. But you don't seem to have those worries. How do you do it?"

Lavender could tell she was really getting to Hermione. Hermione's head was now fleeting with thoughts, as Harry and Ginny could only look on and worry. 

The three of them all knew that Lavender had a point. But only Harry and Ginny knew that it was only because he was, well he was Ron. And the day Ron takes initiative and actually asks Hermione...that'll be the day. But Hermione didn't think of Ron that way. In fact, she was beginning to agree with Lavender. 

_Why hasn't he asked me? Doesn't he like me? Or maybe I was right all along, maybe it's just me...Lavender's right, as much as I hate to admit it. He is using me..._

Harry grabbed Ginny's hand under the table. They were both thinking the same thing: _How could Lavender do something like this? And why was Hermione believing it? She should know Ron absolutely loves her, he does everything but say it..._

And then, as they were both thinking the same thing, they both came to the same realization...he hadn't **said** it. Ginny could feel her cheeks getting hot. Ooh, did she want to give Lavender a piece of her mind...

Hermione's heart was sinking lower and lower by the second. She felt like she had just been knocked off her cloud by a bludger. _What was I doing? Why did I ask him to the ball at all? He doesn't return my feelings, he just felt bad for me, so he accepted..._ She felt angry and sad at the same time. She looked over to see where Ron had gone off to, and he was sitting at Seamus' table. _Oh, so now that we're here, he's just going to abandon me and sit with someone else, right? I should have known..._

Hermione's face grew hot as her heart grew cold. Lavender looked at Parvati and smirked. Parvati turned to Hermione with a sarcastic look of pity on her face.

"Oh, Hermione, what's wrong? You're not worried that Ron doesn't, well, return your feeling, are you?"

Hermione looked at Parvati and scowled. She simply couldn't take anymore. She didn't even look at Harry or Ginny as she stood up to leave. She took off her painful shoes, leaving them under the table, and unnoticeably made her way out of the room. 

Harry looked at Ginny with a pained expression. But Ginny's face was red as a tomato. She had had enough. She picked up a glass of water from the table and tossed it on the two girls. They had found it completely unexpected as they had been involved in their own Hermione-bashing conversation and hadn't noticed her pick up the glass.

They shrieked as the cold water soaked through their dresses and chilled them. 

"That was completely uncalled for! What is your problem?" Lavender cried. The entire hall went silent as everyone turned to watch.

"What's my **_problem_**?? What's **_MY_** problem? What on earth is YOUR problem? Hermione was perfectly happy before you went and interfered! For your information, he was planning on telling her tonight! But no, you had to be your bitchy self and ruin it! Get it straight, Lavender, he doesn't like you and he never will! In fact, what you just did will probably make him HATE you! So good job on that one! You've really got what you wanted now, don't you!" She stormed out of the room to search for Hermione. 

Harry looked at Lavender and Parvati with contempt. Lavender could feel tears gathering behind her eyes. _Ginny was right, Ron probably does hate me now..._ She looked at Ron, but couldn't tell what he was thinking. Ron couldn't tell what he was thinking either, he was completely dumbfounded.

Keep reviewing or I'll send monkeys to chase you with bows and popsicles!! Haha, just kidding. Sort of. 


	23. Discovering Divulgence

A/N: Hey guys!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Yes yes, it's that time of year once again! And so, as my present to you all, I'm going to upload not one but TWO chapters!! Because I love you all! I'm sure that the fact that the two chapters go hand in hand has nothing to do with this decision!! Hahaha…Anyway, I hope you all enjoy, this is my favorite part, personally, and keep reviewing!! Please! Or else! I'll be forced to sit and think of something threatening! And me thinking is not a pretty sight…

Disclaimer: Hell no! I don't own no Harry Potter! (if you noticed, I used a double negative, technically meaning that I do indeed claim to own Harry Potter…) No!!! Just kidding!!! I wish. Seriously I do. That would be awesome! If any of you know where I could possibly buy Harry Potter and all his friends, please tell me, I would really really appreciate it! Plus, it would get me one step closer to reaching world domination…

Oops! Did I just say that out loud?? Anywhoozle, carry on! You'd all better love this part of the story or else you have no heart!!! Hehe, strange mood I'm in today…

Chapter twenty-three

Discovering Divulgence

Ron walked over to the table and sat down in Hermione's empty seat, knocking over her shoes. He picked them up and held them in his lap, confused. He looked at Harry, too afraid to even glance at Ginny in her current state.

"Harry, what did Lavender do?" he asked hesitantly.

"Well Ron, she completely screwed things up for you and Hermione...she lead her to believe that you were, well, using her, since you hadn't asked her to be your girlfriend and whatnot...Hermione's pretty upset, you'd better go find her," Harry finished quickly.

Ron didn't even stay to ask which direction she took off in, he just dashed for the door. Harry silently wished him luck, he knew this would be difficult...

Ron ran outside and onto the lawn. He ran for ten minutes, not even aware of the shoes still in his hand. After the ten minutes he stopped, out of breath. He had no idea where she could have possibly been. He had stopped by the lake, and walked over to look in the water. He could see the squid swimming around the bottom.

_Hey, giant squid, have you seen Hermione? You know, that incredible 6th year, with the beautiful eyes and long brown hair who's likely to hate me for the rest of my life? Has she perhaps jumped in to join you?_ Ron thought to himself, and possibly to the squid as well. Ron sighed and was about to sit down when he heard a soft cry. He quietly followed the noise until he reached the edge of the forbidden forest. He saw Hermione slumped down at the foot of a tree, her head buried in her knees. He silently sat down next to her and put her shoes on the ground next to him.

"Hermione..."

She looked up at him, her eyes red from crying. She really hoped that he did love her, even though she believed every word Lavender had said...

Ron sat down next to her. He pulled her hands away from her knees and held them in his. He pushed her hair away from her face, and he could see just a hint of a smile hidden on her face.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Hermione, I-well, I guess I didn't want to say this before, because I wasn't sure of how you felt about me, but then this morning I heard you downstairs with my sister, I heard you talking, and I thought it was too good to be true, I was so happy, and...well, Hermione Granger, I like you. I like you very much… No, wait. Hermione Granger...I-"

He paused for a second, he was distracted by the grin spreading across her face, it was so pretty-

"I **love** you very much."

Ron could feel relief take over him like warm water on ice. He felt so much better now that he had confessed. His heartbeat was accelerating steadily.

Hermione wasn't sure what to do with herself, so she stayed silent as she processed all of this. _He loves me, he loves me, is he serious? What, of course he's serious, he wouldn't joke about something like that..._ She was almost too involved in her thoughts to notice the look of concern in Ron's eyes. She couldn't see him like that, he had to know that she loved him too. She couldn't hurt him in any way, anymore. But the words she planned on saying didn't seem to come out, because she suddenly found herself kissing him overpoweringly.

Ron couldn't believe it, this was one of the best moments of his life, along with the broom closet, and waking up next to her, and sleeping in the common room, and...when he thought about it, all of the best moments he could remember involved Hermione. It was a very comforting thought, to know that she was such a prominent part of his life, that she was always there, that he couldn't live without her...he couldn't live without her. Not one day. He suddenly pulled away from Hermione's lips and looked her straight in the eyes. Hermione listened apprehensively.

"Hermione, will you be mine? Will you be my girlfriend?"

Hermione's eyes lit up as though they reflected the rising sun. He finally asked her, and it was the best feeling in the world.

"Yes," she whispered. This time they watched each other peacefully. Ron thought she had never been more beautiful. Hermione tilted her head to the side as she looked at Ron in the moonlight. He looked so cute with his shy grin and his shining eyes. She leaned in to kiss him again, this time equally passionate yet more relaxed and steady. She suddenly noticed that her feet were cold, so she slid them under Ron's legs hoping he wouldn't notice, since they happened to be kissing. Ron did notice though, so he stopped, chuckled a little, then reached for her shoes and slipped them back on her feet like he had earlier. She suddenly felt him swoop her up into his arms. He kissed her lightly once more, then carried her off towards the castle, Hermione giggling dizzily all the way. 

He carried her all the way back to the entrance hall, and they both had the biggest grins on their faces. As soon as he set her down, he asked her for their first dance. Hermione graciously accepted, and they made their way to the middle of the dance floor. Lavender and Parvati were sulking in the corner, still in their soaking wet dresses. If they went back upstairs, they wouldn't have anything to change into, so they wouldn't be able to come back down; after a little while this idea didn't seem too bad to Parvati. But Lavender refused to leave. She was still determined...

Harry saw the two of them return and felt a little relieved that they were okay, but now he was worried about Ginny. Where had she gone off to? She had gone to look for Hermione but hadn't come back. Harry decided to wait a few minutes to see if she would return, but the minutes seemed to pass like hours for him.


	24. Settling Scores

Here's the second one!!! Hehe, hope you all liked that one! Okay, no need for a note, you all know the deal. I don't own him, although that doesn't prevent me from obsessing over Ron…

Chapter twenty-four

Settling Scores

Three songs had played, but Ron and Hermione hadn't separated an inch's worth of space from each other. Lavender felt sick to her stomach. But she was still going to do everything she could. As soon as she saw their faces move toward each other, she stood up and walked over to them.

"Ron, I need to speak with you-"

Ron took on a look of disgust, but his eyes told Hermione it would be all right. He reluctantly let go of Hermione's waist and turned to face the ice queen.

"What is it Lave-"

But before he could finish asking, Lavender had taken his head in her hands and pressed her lips to his. He pulled back in shock and stared at her disbelievingly.

Hermione looked at Lavender with the same look as Ron. She was about to give her a bit of her mind when Ron put up his hand to quiet her. Without a word, he grabbed Lavender's hand and lead her outside. Hermione was even more shocked at this. _What is he doing? Is he--oh god, maybe he does like her, but he didn't think she returned his feelings, and then when she kissed him, he realized that she did, and I was just a back up...oh god, oh god...this is horrible, I actually believed him! oh god..._she felt her heart drop into her stomach. Harry looked surprised as well. Hadn't he just been about to confess his love to Hermione this evening? That was the plan at least, but now he was perplexed, this wasn't right...What was Ron doing?

Ginny was sitting outside on a bench by the side of the castle. She had gone outside to look for Hermione, but as soon as she saw Ron chase after her, she knew everything would be okay. She was heading back to the castle when she saw the reflection of the stars in the lake, and for some reason she was captivated. She had sat down on the bench to look up and admire them. It was so romantic; they reminded her of her and Harry's first kiss. She smiled at the memory. Suddenly, her thoughts were disrupted by a rustling on grass beneath feet. She looked down from the sky and across the grounds to see what was happening. She saw Ron leading Lavender by the hand, and Ginny's face turned pale. _What?!? But he was just out here with Hermione, what does he think he's doing?_ She quietly snuck off the bench and crept along the wall of the castle to eavesdrop. But what she heard was definitely not what she expected.

"What in the--first, you convince Hermione that I don't love her, that I'm using her, and then, as if that weren't enough for you, you have to kiss me in front of everyone? What is wrong with you? Why would you do that? What were you thinking? I absolutely love this girl, and there is nothing anyone can do, especially you, to change that! I don't know who told you it was okay to do that to someone, because it's not!"

Ron's face was livid. Neither Lavender or Ginny had ever seen anything like it. But Ginny smiled all the same, she was proud and happy for him. Standing up for his love...

It was Lavender's turn to go pale now. She really didn't know what to do. For the first time she could ever remember, she was at a loss. She hadn't gotten what she wanted, and on top of that she had made a fool of herself! She really felt like crying now, and it was partly because she was searching for pity (that Lavender, she never gives up, does she?)

But Ron saw right through her, and made it clear.

"Lavender, I don't care. I don't pity you at all. You've made a damned fool out of your own self, and I had nothing to do with it. Now, before I turn around and walk away, I'd like your word that you'll apologize to Hermione before the night's over and you find it pleasingly dramatic to run away to your dorm."

Lavender looked shocked, and slightly angered. Lavender, apologize?!? Hmm, Ron seemed to be pushing it, Ginny thought. But she was still impressed at how well and sternly he was handling the whole thing, it seemed so unlike him.

Lavender was still (STILL!) searching for that little loophole in Ron's eyes that would tell her that it was all okay, that she was off the hook, but she was unsuccessful, there was none to be found. She finally realized that there really wasn't anything left she could do, and she was forced to give in to his deal. As soon as she said yes, he turned on his heel and headed back to the great hall. 

Ron returned to Hermione, who was still standing in the middle of the dance floor, looking hurt and upset. She suddenly felt compelled to look up, and when she did, she saw Ron walking toward her. She was about to scowl until she noticed him grin at her slyly. Everything was going to be okay. He really did love her. He made it to her and, without a word, placed her arms around his neck.

Harry was about to seriously panic until he finally saw Ginny walk through the doorway into the great hall. She seemed to have had her conscience cleared, which was fortunate, Harry thought. He didn't ask her where she had been; he trusted that, wherever she had gone, she knew what she was doing. She sat at the table next to Harry and smiled. She had spent the whole time thinking about him, and this night, and how much she cared about him. Just then, she realized that they hadn't danced all evening. She took his hand in her's, and without asking, lead him to the floor and began to dance with him. He was a bit nervous, as he wasn't really the dancing type, but if it made her happy...

Ron and Hermione looked deeply into each other's eyes. _Sure, the night didn't go exactly as planned, but it still was one amazing evening... _thought Ron as he held on to Hermione tightly. Now that he had found her, he wasn't about to let her go so easily.

The ball was ending soon, but no one was ready to leave yet. Harry and Ginny were having such a good time. Ginny somehow kept Harry on the dance floor, which was quite a feat in itself, but on top of that, she kept him dancing, which was downright miraculous. Harry felt happy with Ginny, no matter what he was doing or where he was. Even if he did mortally despise dancing.

Ron and Hermione were dancing only an inch away from each other. She leaned her head on his chest and breathed deeply, smelling that warm and comforting 'distinctly Ron' smell.(A/N-not a bad smell!! A good one, really. Carry on--) As though she couldn't help herself, she lifted her head a couple of inches and pressed her lips against the side of his neck. This startled Ron, but in a good way. He returned the kiss to her forehead. She looked up at him, but he saw something in them he had never seen before. He wouldn't have any way of knowing, but it was the same look she had as she locked them in the broom closet. But even though he had never seen it before, he knew exactly what she was thinking. He grabbed her hand and slowly led her off the dance floor and up the staircase.

Harry saw the two of them leave and couldn't help but chuckle. _Ha, Ron sure moves quickly, doesn't he?_

Now, I'm sure you're all worried about what's going to happen here, but rest assured, they are only 6th years!!! And they've only been dating one night! Trust me on this one, I won't make them do anything you wouldn't do…hey, that doesn't really work, cause I don't know what you've all done…ha! Anyway, okay, how about this, I won't make them do anything **_I_** wouldn't do. And trust me, I'm as pristine as a saint! Okay, well, not really. Sort of, I mean…OY! Okay, you get the point! They did NOT have sex!!! Phew. 


	25. Shocking Situations

A/N: Okay guys, I know you're all worried about what goes down in this chapter, and I'd like to reassure you all that **NO FUNNY BUSINESS GOES ON!!** NONE WHATSOEVER! I know that all of the descriptions leading up to them waking up may sound like they're about to do something dirty, but I did it because I wanted to convey the compassion they share for each other, nothing more. All they end up doing is kissing, and lots of it, but that's it, so please don't accuse me of killing the story or making do stuff they normally wouldn't do, alright? Please? Plus, the situation they end up in leads to a lot of laughs, alright? So please enjoy! No dirty stuff! And please review! Good ones, no flames! If you don't like it, just walk away, no one will know you've read it…

~Lauren

Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, I don't own Harry Potter…but I **do** own $100…maybe I can bribe J.K. with it…hmm.

Chapter twenty-five

Shocking Situations

They headed up the stairs, and Ron kept looking back at her. Her eyes were burning brightly; the look was still there. They made it to the portrait hole in what seemed like forever to Hermione, and they stepped inside. As soon as the portrait swung closed behind Hermione, Ron turned around and took her into his arms. She slid off the jacket of his dress robe as he took out the bun in her hair and watched as her long hair fell down her back. She stepped out of her shoes and kicked them over into the corner of the room. Hermione stood on her toes to kiss Ron, but this time they never stopped. For the first time ever, Hermione was lead by her feelings instead of logic or thought. And she thought it was the most amazing concept, to suddenly be able to shut off her mind and listen to her heart.

Ron was wondering what she was thinking. But more than that, he was wondering what exactly they were doing. Not that it wasn't amazing and all, but he just wondered if Hermione was sure about this. He had seen that look, but whatever they were doing didn't seem like Hermione at all...for the first time, he was actually thinking through all of this. He was worried about Hermione. He couldn't know what was going to happen, but he wanted her to be okay. He pulled away from her kiss for just a moment-

"Hermione, what are we-"

"shh…" she whispered, calming him.

He had no choice, and as soon as he heeded, she stepped on the first stair of the staircase to reach his lips again. After a minute or so, they moved up the next step, and eventually they made it to the top of the staircase leading to the boys' dorm room.

(A/N: now, I know what you're thinking, but believe you me, they are NOT doing **that**!!! I promise you! They're just being very passionate, that's all. Passionate kissing! Nothing more! No dirty business, honest! I hope you understand, and that you don't hate me! Just wait till later, it explains it all…)

Harry and Ginny stepped into the common room. It was one in the morning, and the ball was finally over. As soon as they stepped in, Harry noticed Ron's jacket on the floor. Not completely surprised, but more worried about Ginny noticing, he kicked it under one of the chairs as discreetly as possible without Ginny seeing him. He also noticed her shoes in the corner, but figured that they weren't as suspicious, so he didn't bother. _Sheesh, what's going on? I wonder what they're up to...wait a minute, no I don't!! Don't want to think about it..._

They walked over to a couch and sat down. They both knew that they would fall asleep together on that couch, but neither of them said anything, thinking that the other, once this was pointed out, would be weird about it and sleep upstairs. Neither of them wanted this, so they remained silent about the issue. Harry leaned against the arm of the couch, and Ginny laid on his chest. Once again, they looked into the fire while they talked about the events of the ball. And of course, they both fell asleep within the hour, in each other's arms.

The next morning, Hermione woke up in Ron's bed. She felt extremely warm and comfortable, being wrapped up in Ron's arms. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Ron's adorable face. He was smiling in his sleep. She turned over to face him when she felt blanket against her skin. Surprised, she looked under the covers and saw that she was in her underwear. (I absolutely LOVE the word knickers, but I realized that that would only imply the bottom, and not the top...ha! sorry...)She looked over at Ron; he was in his boxers. She sighed mentally, relieved. Though she felt extremely comfortable in her current situation, she knew she wasn't ready to go that far, not yet anyway. She pulled the covers back over her, burying her head into Ron's chest and closing her eyes. She slid her arms under his and fell asleep almost immediately.

Ron woke up to find Hermione sleeping contently in his arms. He pulled her a little closer to him and felt her skin against his. Surprised, he looked under the blanket and saw that they were both in their underwear. He sighed, relieved. He loved her, but he knew that neither of them were ready for that...He rested his chin on top of her head and fell back asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This time it was Ron who snuck out of bed an hour later. He had woken up to (fortunately) find Hermione still in his arms. For a while, he watched her sleep peacefully. After a while he realized that it may not be the wisest idea to have the rest of the guys come in with them in the same bed in their underwear. So he quickly slid out from under her head, resting it on the pillow, and off of the bed. He put on a shirt and the pants he found under the bed and headed downstairs. He saw Harry and Ginny sitting on the couch, hand in hand, reading the Daily Prophet together. They had already gone down to breakfast and the mail had come. He sat down in a chair near theirs, and they chatted about the ball. Harry didn't bring up the jacket that was still underneath the chair, but he kept it in the back of his mind with a sly grin. After only a few minutes, Ron couldn't fight off the hunger pangs, so he went down to breakfast by himself. He returned to the boys' dorms only 20 minutes later, carrying a large, stuffed napkin. He sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as the sleeping Hermione slowly sat up and acknowledged Ron's presence. She smiled at him, feeling very close to him indeed, then asked him what he had in his hands. He pulled back the napkin and revealed eight slices of toast. Of course, not all of it was for her, but he handed her three pieces anyway, and wrapped up the rest. Hermione smiled appreciatively, rubbing her foot against his ankle.

"Good morning," Hermione said playfully.

"Good morning," Ron replied, equally as playfully. They kept looking at each other and grinning uncontrollably. Neither of them could really believe that they were actually together now. It was amazing. Hermione was practically glowing, and Ron looked at her like he could see the light gleaming from her every pore. _She is just so gorgeous...and I definitely don't mind her in her knickers..._

Hermione reached for another piece of toast from Ron's hand and continued smiling. Even though they weren't talking, the silence was far from awkward. They were enjoying each other's company exactly the way it was.

Ron was putting the last piece of toast in his mouth when Hermione ripped the other half from his grip and giggled before sticking in her mouth. Ron's heart beat faster at the sound of her little laugh.

"Oh no you don't!" he growled playfully, reaching over and grabbing her around the waist. He began tickling her unremittingly. She involuntarily began squealing madly, and they rolled around on Ron's bed, trying to pin the other down.

After about fifteen minutes, Ron had been pinned down by a ferocious Hermione. They were both out of breath from all the excitement. Hermione, proud of her sudden strength, (it took a lot to pin down Ron Weasley) she laughed at Ron attempting to wiggle his way out of her grasp, but discovered that it was useless. After a moment of awed silence, Hermione lowered herself and engaged Ron in a sweet kiss. Hermione let go of one of his hands to touch his face, and he used his free hand to pull her closer...just then the door to the dorm room opened. Hermione quickly looked up to see...

Seamus. She had been seriously hoping to find Harry standing in the doorway, for then it would have been at least a little less embarrassing. But no, there stood Seamus, and as soon as he saw the two of them he let out a terrified, embarrassed yelp and shut the door. Hermione was frozen, and Ron was waiting to hear her freak out about him seeing them in their underwear, Hermione on top of him, but instead all he heard was her break into sudden laughter. Ron looked at her, surprised, but pleasantly. He hadn't really been embarrassed anyway. Okay, so maybe a little...


	26. Revenge Revival

A/N: Okay guys, I've decided that tonight I'll post twice…For one thing, I'm really bored, and another thing is I forgot to put one up last night, so to make up for it, here you go! Even though the little thingy will tell you that it's been updated on the 28th, hich today it is, I'm still awake, and it's one in the morning here, so technically in my world it is still tonight! Anyway, I hope you all like it, it was a lot of fun writing it…Enjoy! And please review! I appreciate it. 

Your faithful writer-friend, (seeing as how I'm not really an author quite yet, though I hope to be some day… ;D),

Lauren

Disclaimer: Hey dudes, I don't own Harry Potter man, I don't know what to tell you…If I did, I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting here in this apartment with my mom and my little sister…

Hahahaha. 

Chapter twenty-six

Revenge Revival

Hermione just kept laughing until she finally caught her breath and was able to speak clearly again. She was about to say something about how funny that had been, but instead she leaned back over to kiss him again. Ron didn't mind the lack of an explanation. Not one bit.

Two hours later, Hermione and Ron finally emerged from the boys' dorm room, with content grins on their faces. Harry and Ginny didn't even have to ask what they had been doing up there for so long, Seamus had already come down and dramn out the mental picture for almost the entire common room. The two of them sat down next to each other on a chair, rather close together. Ginny smiled, and even though she knew the answer, she was feeling a little mischievous and decided to stir up a little trouble.

"So, I noticed you guys were sleeping for quite some time..."

"Oh yeah, well, after last night, we were both pretty tired you know, so yeah, we slept in late. It was definitely nice, what with it being winter vacation and everything, and getting to sleep in. Well, we would anyway, since it's Sunday, which is part of the weekend, so we'd have gotten to sleep in anyways..."

Ron really had meant well. Really, he had. But when he got nervous he would not shut up. All four of them (plus whoever had been sitting around, listening in) knew that he was just a horrible liar. And so no one believed him. Hermione blushed for him it was so embarrassing. Hermione decided though to take over the situation.

"Well you see, I have to say I am quite, well, impish at times, and so what happened was just a little game, wrestling each other. That's all. Really."

Hermione was telling the truth. But she had worked so hard to make it sound honest that...no one believed her. It sounded too thought out. So now everyone in the common room thought that they had been up there, well, 'engaging in improper and inappropriate relations,' as Seamus had so tactfully put it. They were all giving Ron and Hermione different looks: some were pleasantly surprised, some were in humored awe, and some were just in plain shock. Ron couldn't understand what was going on, so he just sat in silence, waiting for an explanation. Hermione hadn't put two and two together, until...

"Oh no! Ginny, we weren't doing that at all! Oh, did Seamus tell you that? No, he walked in and I was in my underwear, but Ron had clothes on, and we were just playing, and I kissed him, and..."

All of a sudden laughter erupted throughout the common room. Everywhich way she turned, there was someone exploding with giggles and tears. Hermione looked at Ron in confusion and exasperation.

Dean, who had been one of the people listening in, chimed in.

"So, let's get this straight: you were, eh, 'wrestling', in your underwear, for about two hours...did I get all of that right?"

Everyone began losing their heads in laughter again as both Ron and Hermione turned scarlet. Hermione tried to rebutt his statement, but the words simply wouldn't leave her mouth. Of course, her silence really didn't exactly help the situation.

Dean continued...

"So, 'wrestling', is that what they call it these days..."

If they thought the common room had been laughing before, they didn't know what this was. It sounded like a series of loud explosions going off. Ron saw Hermione's face and couldn't take anymore. But instead of being the brave one and standing up for them, he decided to be the coward and run away. He grabbed Hermione's hand in his and led her out the portrait hole.

Hermione might have pointed out his cowardice in some other situation, but this time she knew that there was nothing they could have said to save that one. But instead of sulking and whining about it, Hermione suddenly took on a look of determination.

"Ron, we've got to get them back..."

"Er, how exactly do you plan to do that? It's not like we can just make someone look like they're doing something like that..."

But he could tell by the look in her eyes that that was exactly what she planned to do...

Ron and Hermione had a very interesting conversation outside in the hallway...

"Hermione, are you sure you want to do this?" Ron asked nervously. He had said it once, and he'd say it again: sometimes she was a bit scary. Brilliant, but scary...

"Yes Ron, I'm absolutely sure. We have to, it's the only way we'll save face! Now remember, we don't do anything until tonight, okay? Just act like everything's normal. No, act like we're completely mortified, like we were in there, alright?"

Ron couldn't help but think that that wasn't as hard as she made it sound.

Meanwhile, Ginny couldn't help but wonder where they had gone off to. But just as she was about to get up and look for them, they reentered the common room, looking, well, completely mortified.

Ginny began laughing again, she had been afraid they were plotting something.

The rest of the day passed by with nonstop teasing and pestering. Neither of them dared to leave the common room in fear that they would be laughed at the entire way. So they passed the time playing wizard chess. Of course, no one else knew that they really weren't as uncomfortable as they seemed. They were too busy thinking of the events of the upcoming night. And, as neither of them knew, they were both preoccupied with what had happened the night before.

That night, after Ron had insisted that Harry bring them something from dinner, everyone was feeling a little tired. But since it was break, there really wasn't any need to go to sleep early. Hermione came up with the bright idea to have a bit of a slumber party in the common room, just for a little fun. Everyone thought that was a great idea, so as soon as they got upstairs to get ready for bed, they came back down with pillows and blankets and whatnot. Ron and Hermione kept exchanging sly looks at each other; Ron had decided that it really was a damn good idea, and so he wasn't nervous anymore. Instead he was looking forward to doing it. He kept looking at Hermione, thinking how amazingly brilliant she was.

They all spent the night telling humorous stories and talking about the ball and such. Finally, the last person had fallen asleep (Dean-he couldn't help himself, he had to keep pestering the two about that morning), and they began to set their plan in motion. The only problem was, who to pick as their victim? the answer came only too easy to Ron.

"Harry..." he whispered, with a huge grin on his face.


	27. Relentless Rampage

A/N: Hey guys! Lauren here. Thanks to those who understood what I was trying to say about those two lovebirds…I appreciate it, and I'm glad you guys love the story! On another note, I'd like to point some things out to my dear, **dear** friend centaur30…

1) This is a ROMANCE story…along with ROMANCE comes a good deal of snogging…I'd suggest a different category if it bothers you that much.

2) I went back to check just **how** much snogging there was, since you seemed to find it in 'at the end of every chapter'…it turns out there's only snogging in about seven chapters, and out of 26 (well, 27 counting this one) chapters that really isn't that much. 

3) I hate to admit it, but you do have a bit of a point with the whole hate potion thing. Or so you would think…to answer the other two of your questions, the story will be ending soon, and the potion ordeal will be answered in the sequel; I've written a lot more than what I have posted up here, because I started the story a few weeks before I actually put it up here, so there's a ton of material that still needs to be put up. The thing is, I don't want this story to end up being something like 50 chapters long, so after the next few chapters I'll start a new one. Same story, just continued. This one covers the first half of sixth year, and the sequel will cover the second half. Obscene, I know, I've written a lot. It's almost as long as the fourth book…okay, kidding, it's nowhere NEAR that long, but as you can tell I have 27 chapters up and it's only the end of Christmas break (in the story)…

Okay, sorry you guys, but I had to address that, it was really bothering me. And I'm not trying to seem mean or ungrateful to her, because I'm glad she read my story, and I appreciate her being honest, and so I've monitored the amount of kissing that goes on, although I didn't take any out whatsoever, I just wanted to check…

Anyway, now that that's all cleared up, it's disclaimer time!!

Disclaimer: although you may be thinking, 'Wow, her story is almost as long as J.K. Rowling's number four, so she must really be J.K. ! (not that I'm comparing my story to hers, that would be pointlessly cruel as I would definitely lose…) But no! I am NOT J.K., therefore I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of her characters! Okay, good. 

On to the story, finally!

Chapter twenty-seven

Relentless Rampage

Ron was a little ashamed that he was doing this to his own sister, he hoped she wouldn't hate him too much. But he had to do what he had to do. Hermione couldn't suppress her giggles as Ron gently lifted his sister and lay her down away from Harry, next to Dean. As soon as he lay her down, he had to sit Hermione down on a chair and calm her. She was about to wake everyone up she was giggling so loud. As soon as she promised to stay quiet, Ron went back to the sleeping mass of people to find his next victim. And then it came to him...Lavender. How funny would it be to see that, after having lost her chance with Ron, she had gone after Harry? Ron was so proud of himself, he had figured two revenges into one. He gave one last glance to Hermione, as if to make sure she wanted to go through with this, and as she nodded confidently, he bent down, lifted Lavender in his arms, and made his way through the sea of sleepers over to Harry. Hermione was making Ron do it, because obviously he was the strong one of the two. Her brains and his brute...

Ron carefully bent over and put Lavender in Harry's arms, as Ginny had been. He was about to leave them like that until a little devil in the shape of Hermione appeared on his shoulder.

"Hey, why don't you make it a little more...suspicious, eh?"

Ron chuckled to himself. And I thought I was a bad influence on her...

He slid Lavender's arm around Harry's waist, and rested her head on his shoulder. Harry's head naturally fell and rested on top of her head. Perfect... both of them thought to themselves.

When they both approved of the situation, Ron kissed Hermione on the forehead, and they took their place together under a blanket by the fireplace, drifting off to sleep in each other's arms.

The next morning...

Harry, in the midst of waking up, assumed that it was Ginny at his side, so, without thinking, he wrapped his arms tightly around 'Ginny' and kissed her on the forehead. Lavender stirred at the feeling of lips on her head, and, with eyes still closed, and half-asleep, turned over to face who had unknowingly turned out to be Harry. She dug her head deep into his chest and inhaled. Mmm, something smells good, she thought to her barely conscious self as she took in the smell of Harry's freshly laundered pajamas. Over on the other side of the room, Ginny was stirring as well. She, thinking like Harry, also assumed that it was Harry next to her, so she pulled him closer to her and kissed him on the cheek. Dean's nose scrunched up, but not in a bad way. He was waking up to the touch of Ginny, which had been quite unexpected. But there was someone next to him, so he figured, hey, why not? He squeezed her tightly and was about to fall back to sleep when he heard a yell. He and Ginny sat up slowly to see what had happened, and as soon as they saw that they were holding each other, they let out a yell of their own.

Obviously, the situation was far worse than any of the four thought, because there was so much whispering going on. Ginny was afraid to turn around, thinking that they were reacting to Harry's reaction to seeing her in Dean's arms. But when she did turn around, she got a hell of a slap in the face.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!!!" she screamed, and the whole room fell quiet, although they could all tell they were seriously holding back laughter.

Harry turned around, nervous because he thought she was reacting to the sight of Lavender in his arms. But when he turned around, chills ran through his body.

"GINNY! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"ME? What about you over there, getting all cuddly with HER!" she threw Lavender a disgusted look. She was still very mad at her because of the other night.

"Oh yeah? What about you and Dean over there?" Harry retorted.

But when he finished, he saw a look on Ginny's face that he hadn't expected: complete loathing. But even more confusing was that it wasn't directed towards him. She was glaring at Lavender...suddenly, Harry put the pieces together in his own mind.

Lavender looked at both of them totally bewildered. She truly was innocent this time, but she could tell that no one would believe her. All she could do was sit there, bury her head in her hands and sob.

"I didn't do it! Honestly, Ginny, I would never do that to you! I swear! On my life, I swear!"

Ginny laughed evilly.

"Oh yeah? What makes you think I believe you, huh? So you expect me to believe that you would do something like this to Hermione for example, like you did the other night, but you would be so kind as to spare me? Hm, and why is that Lavender? Huh? Why would you do something like that???"

Hermione and Ron were completely enjoying this (as was everyone else) in their little corner of the room. They were holding hands under the blanket, squeezing them every time something exciting happened. They were completely free of any sort of conscience at this time, but that didn't seem to bother either of them.

Lavender knew the answer deep down inside, but saying that it was because she was more afraid of Ginny would only anger the dragon that was Ginny even more, so she only let her head droop down to her chest. Neither of the suspected couples had let go of each of each other yet, something only Dean noticed, so he let go of Ginny's hands and moved away from her a few inches. His sudden movement attracted Harry's stare.

"And you, what are you doing with her?" Harry snapped.

"Er, I honestly couldn't tell you really. I just woke up and she was here. I didn't even realize it was her until we sat up and noticed each other." he replied simply.

Harry's glare turned into more of a confused look now. What in the hell had gone on here? This kind of thing reminded him of something Fred and George would do...

Meanwhile, the entire population of the common room was swarming with whispers and giggles. Ron and Hermione were completely confident that, even if (and that was a huge if) one of the four sweethearts figured it out, it would be too late, the damage would have already been done, just as it had been done to them.

It was then that Harry threw Ron a look. But Ron seemed to be getting the hang of the whole 'lying convincingly' thing, because when Ron gave him a look in return, Harry shrugged and looked away, seemingly convinced that it wasn't Ron. this made Ron squeeze Hermione's hand again, he was so proud of himself. Hermione smiled at him in return. She was proud of him as well.


	28. Ridiculous Reconciliation

Hey guys! Alright, this begins the end of this story. Now, before you panic and write me a bunch of reviews telling me to write a sequel (you **would** do that, right?? Nah, just kidding, I know you'd be glad to be rid of this story already…) no need to worry, I've got the sequel all planned out. It continues right after this one, same story and everything, but under a new title. I figured the story doesn't really fit with this title anymore, seeing as how they're together and all, so new title, here I come! This isn't the last chapter of this one, however…there are still a few to go to till the end of their break, and that's when I'll draw the line. So if you do like this story, and you'd like to read more of it, on the last chapter I'll post the name of the next one and the link if you'd like. Alrighty? Thank you guys so much for reading my story and sticking with it, I really appreciate it. Why, if it weren't for you guys, I'd just be ending the story, no sequel! So thank you so so so very much! I love you all! Hope you enjoy this one, and if ya do, review when you're done please!!

Lauren

Disclaimer: if I were the owner of Harry Potter, (J.K. Rowling) then there sure would be more chapters to this story before the creation of its sequel, right? Hmm…although I wouldn't mind taking over for her, sounds like fun…hehe, no way, I don't own Harry Potter! I wish! (anyone seen any shooting stars??)

Chapter twenty-eight

Ridiculous Reconciliation 

They all sat there, for the rest of the afternoon, trying to figure out what had happened. Ginny was still set on the idea that Lavender had done it all, but Harry wasn't so convinced. He was beginning to feel a little sorry for her. But of course, he didn't tell Ginny this. Eventually, the action cooled down, and the others decided that there was no better time than now to go spread the word. People were rushing out of the common room to go tell their friends from other houses. Because really, who wouldn't want to know?

Ginny had gotten off the floor and moved to a chair, while Harry was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling. He was now beginning to understand why Ron enjoyed it so much, it really took your mind off of things. It appeared that they hadn't decided to talk to each other yet, as they weren't quite sure what the other was thinking. Actually, neither of them was mad at each other. They just thought the other was mad at them. So they sat in silence, waiting for a possible apocalypse. Yes, that would end all their troubles.

Ron and Hermione, seeing their job as done, quietly began to put their blankets and pillows away. Hermione had put hers away rather quickly, so she helped Ron with his. Once they made it up the stairs to the boys' quarters, they started whispering about their successful plot.

Hermione was about to tell Ron what an amazing prank they had pulled off when she felt herself being lifted off the ground. She looked down at Ron, who had a look of accomplishment on his face, and she smiled.

"God Hermione, you are amazing. I can't believe I am so lucky..." lowered her slightly to kiss her, and before long they were going at it again.

"Wait, Hermione, let's just stop right here and now!" Hermione looked a little hurt. Why?

"Mione, we don't want to start this all over again, do we?" he smirked.

She chuckled. "No, I suppose you're right, for once in your life." she added with a sly grin.

"Oh, did you just insult me? I can't believe it! I compliment you and what do I get in return, an insult? Sheesh Hermione, I should have known..." he said with mock hurt.

"Yeah, I guess so, but then again, that wouldn't have been expected of you, now would it?" She had done it again.

Ron looked at incredulously.

"Why you little..."

And with that they were on the floor again, wrestling each other till the end. (A/N: NOT KISSING!! ONLY WRESTLING!!) Hermione managed to escape long enough to make it to the door, but as soon as she turned the handle, she felt her leg give out beneath her. Ron had grabbed her ankle and pulled her down.

From the common room, Harry and Ginny could hear Hermione screaming shrilly and panting wildly. They looked at each other for the first time in hours. Before they looked away embarrassingly, they shared looks that, had they been words, would have said "I don't even want to know..."

Hermione tumbled her way down the stairs, trying to escape the wrath of Ron. He tumbled after her, landing on her legs. They both began laughing hysterically, unable to control themselves. It took them a few minutes to realize all the noise they were making, and that they were being watched by a silent Ginny and a curious Harry. Even though both of them were in somewhat confused and cautious moods, they still smiled at the fun their friends were having. Hermione sat up, tugging at her shirt, while Ron rolled over to get himself off his stomach. He ran his hand through his hair automatically, and gave them an awkward smile.

"So, uh, what's goin' on? How's life?" he asked uneasily, feeling the tension in the room.

Harry gave a subtle glance toward Ginny, then said, selectively choosing his words, "Eh, not much. We're just, well, we're just..." What exactly were they doing? They weren't talking, that was for sure. Then again, they weren't not talking. So what was going on? They were both at a loss for words.

Hermione figures it was best to leave them on their own.

"Well Ron, there's this really good book I wanted to show you, it's about...it's a surprise!" She might have been able to figure out something if she hadn't been so out of breath. "Come on, let's go. We'll see you guys at dinner, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, of course. We'll be there," said a previously silent Ginny. The four of them nodded in agreement, then Ron and Hermione walked out of the portrait hole.

As soon as they left, Ginny started staring at the wall. It wasn't quite as entertaining as the ceiling, but it would have to do, she didn't want to risk looking strange with her head leaned back permanently. Harry seemed interested in the individual 'buds' of fuzzy material that created the carpet. He had begun counting them when Ginny, unable to take anymore of the silence, spoke.

"Harry, we can't go on like this forever, you know," she reasoned. She said this gently, not wanting to upset the possibly-already-upset Harry. But he wasn't upset at all. Instead he smiled at her, glad that she had been the one to finally suggest their truce. Harry had decided a while ago that it wasn't her fault, and that somehow there had been some weird events the over the night.

Ginny also knew inside that it hadn't been Harry that had done whatever chaos had happened that morning. But she still wasn't ready to get off of the idea of Lavender having some part in this. But either way, she was a little irked by the whole thing and was missing being able to discuss it with him.

Finally Harry spoke up.

"I agree, er, so I'm wondering if you're uh, mad at me," he asked, slightly uncomfortable.

"No! Of course I'm not mad at you! I know that whatever that was, it wasn't your fault. I was just shocked, that's all. I thought that you were mad at me! So I didn't want to irritate you any further, so I avoided talking to you. I'm so sorry, this was so dumb," she finished finally. She sighed deeply.

Harry smiled appreciatively.

"I'm so glad you're not mad at me, I was really worried. Yes, I agree this really was dumb." He didn't know what else to say, but he didn't have to worry about it, because she had unexpectedly planted a big one on him.

Needless to say, neither of them made it to dinner that night, they were too busy making up. Surprisingly, they both ended up making jokes about the whole situation, which was something they both thought would have made the other uncomfortable. Ron didn't think much of their absence, naturally, and instead spent his time teasing Hermione about not having a conscience. Hermione, on the other hand, was only a tad worried (boy, what an understatement) and was too busy fretting to give in to his bait. When they finally headed upstairs and entered the common room, they found the newly reacquainted couple asleep on the couch, Ginny in Harry's arms. Even Ron appreciated this moment it was so cute. Ron yawned, decided he was sleepy, (it apparently wasn't enough to just feel tired, he had to decide he was for it to be true) and hugged Hermione goodnight. They both went their separate ways up their respective staircases, and they both got ready for bed. Ron was staring out at the stars, drifting off to sleep... A few minutes later, the door opened, and someone quietly snuck into the room. They stood very still, until finally pulling back the blankets and sliding into the bed. They rested their head on Ron's shoulder, and fell asleep immediately.


	29. Surprising Souvenirs

Hey there! Lauren here. Sorry about not updating yesterday, I got a little busy! And no Madison, I don't like to see you suffer…much. Haha. Anyway, speaking of Madison, I'd like to thank all of my new readers! You guys are cool! Like Madison and bloo-pixie, and all you other cool people I'm too lazy to remember the names of. Sorry, I'm a little tired today. Plus, it's New Year's Eve! Who needs to think? So happy New Year's to you all, and maybe tomorrow I'll remember to list you all! Enjoy!!

Lauren

Disclaimer: You know that if I owned Harry Potter, I would definitely not be sitting here in California…I'd be off traveling the world or something cool for New Year's. So I guess that means I don't own him…*sob*, I'll get over it…someday…

Chapter twenty-nine

Surprising Souvenirs

Ron woke up in the middle of the night, shivering. Why was he so cold? I really hope I'm not getting sick... he thought, not even barely awake. He turned over, reaching to pull the covers tighter, only to find that the covers were gone. He opened his eyes, confused, and saw someone laying next to him, wrapped up in his blanket. Apparently, whoever it was who had snuck into his bed was quite a blanket hog. Startled by the sudden appearance of the visitor (or maybe intruder), he slowly backed up, not realizing he was about to fall off the bed. When he pulled himself off of the floor, he decided to pull back the blanket. As though it were in slow motion, he reached over to the top of the blanket and pulled back enough to see brown bushy hair poking out of the top. He sighed, greatly relieved. For all he knew it could have been Lavender, or Parvati, or a garden gnome. Hey, it had happened before...he thought back to when he was five, when he awoke to find one in his bed, chewing at his blanket maniacally, it was almost as bad as when he found himself hugging the huge spider that had once been a bear...returning to reality, he laid back in his bed, gently took back some of his blanket, and wrapped his arm around the sleeping beauty, kissing her on the forehead.

They woke up the next morning in each others arms, (oh, what a surprise)completely oblivious to the fact that it was Christmas. But they were made well aware when Ginny and Harry came bursting into the room and bounced onto the bed. The first sign was how cheery they both seemed to be for so early in the morning.

"What the--" Ron said groggily.

But before he could finish, he was drowned out (and frightened awake) by Ginny's loud "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" Harry dropped his presents for them onto Ron's stomach as Hermione practically peeled her eyes open. Ginny also followed suit and dropped her presents as well, much to Ron's dismay. He had just woken up, and now his stomach was under siege.

Ron attempted to reach under the bed to retrieve his presents as well, but ended up suffocating Hermione in the process. After she finished dramatizing the situation and everyoine just rolled their eyes , she pretended to pout and began to get out of bet to get her presents. Ginny stopped her, handing her the presents that had been under her own bed. They all figured they should exchange their gifts, so they handed over their respective boxes ans silently, with grins of anticipation spread on their faces, began to carefully untie the bows and untape the paper.

For some reason, they all decided to unwrap their presents one person at a time. They had a little fun with it: whoever was first would open the present from the person on their left...oddly enough Ron came up with this idea, and they all followed along. It was Christmas, why not? No one pointed out that, after one round in the circle, his idea wouldn't really make any sense, unless they had all bought presents for only one person...but no one minded anyhow. Again, it was Christmas...Hermione opened her present from Ginny first. It was a really cute muggle sweater, one that Hermione had actually really wanted, she was surprised Ginny knew...next, Ginny opened her present from Harry. It was a beautiful silver necklace, with a simple silver heart in the middle. She absolutely loved it. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly, and put it on immediately. Next was Harry's present from Ron. He opened it up and found a box of cookies? Huh? What was this? Inside, the note said "Try these, see if you think Ginny's are better than even mine..." Ron smirked as Harry laughed. It was truly funny, especially because 1) who knew he made cookies? 2)when did he find the time to make them? and 3) Ginny had a sour look on her face...how dare he, he knows his are better than mine! grr... Ron took up his gift from Hermione in his hands and examined it. Hermione was more anxious for him to open it than even he was. Finally he started ripping open the paper, while Hermione cringed. Couldn't he at least try to save it?

He got the wrapping paper off and gave an incredulous look.

"Hermione, you got me a dictionary???"

She laughed.

"Just open it! It's not a dictionary…"

He opened the book and on the first page was a drawing of a design that looked oddly familiar... 

"Hermione, what is this, it looks a lot like-"

Hermione giggled. Sometimes he could be so slow…

"Bloody hell, it's the design on my key!" he said, finally understanding.

"Where did you find this??"

"Oh, I don't know…" she said slyly. Ron just stared at it in awe.

Next it was time for her to open his present.

She took her time with the paper, and just as she was anxious for him to open his, he was equally anxious for her to open his. He really hoped she'd like it.

She opened up a box to find two things: one was obviously a camera, while the other seemed to be a book. She pulled it out and saw that she had what looked like a very-well-taken-care-of antique book. The cover was a wooden brown with very beautiful detailing, and when she opened it up, she saw the word 'Memories' written in gold calligraphy on the inside cover. She immediately put two and two together, and tears formed in her eyes.

Hermione, without even caring to see where she dropped her gifts, threw her arms around a relieved Ron and began pecking him on the lips.

"Oh-"

Hermione knocked him over onto his back.

"-thank-"

"-you-"

"-SO-"

"-MUCH!!"

she managed to squeal while uncontrollably showing her affection and gratitude. Ron could barely breathe, but was happy all the same that she liked it that much. She finally decided that he had received enough praise, and that he probably would need to breath sooner or later, so she ceased her attack and settled for sitting in his lap, his arms wrapped around her. Ginny was smiling a big goofy one, trying not to make it too evident. But Harry was laughing straight out.

"I swear, you guys are ridiculous, it's like you haven't kissed in years..."

"Hey, lay off, you! You never kiss Ginny in public, and that's not our fault! Don't take it out on us! Hermione laughed at her own insult. But Ron's ears went red, and suddenly Harry fell silent. Ginny's face went from goofy to expressionless. She seemed to be realizing this for the first time.

The room was awkwardly silent, with everyone sneaking embarrassed glances at everyone else. Hermione regretted saying whatever it was she had said, for she had chosen not to remember. Even though it had only been a short time ago. Ginny, with a reserved look now on her face, handed Harry his present. Harry tried to avoid smiling--it was one of those moments where, even though you're not supposed to smile, you can't help it, and Harry had it bad--and extended his hand to receive the gift. 

Harry took the box in both hands and, completelly unexpectedly, began to shake the box. Ginny and Ron looked at his like he was insane, and Hermione grabbed his hand and gave him a look that could have stunned him.

"Harry, what the--" Ron began.

"Ron, he's just acting like a five-year-old muggle, that's all..." Ron chuckled, easing the thick tension that had been hovering above them.

"Riiiight...go on then, hurry up."

Harry slowly ripped the tape off his box, minding the return of silence and looks from everyone else. He gently laid the paper (Ginny, as a joke, had wrapped it in snitch paper) to his left and opened up the small cardboard box that contained his gift. He looked down and saw a bunch of shredded paper. Growing slightly impatient and excited, he reached his hand inside and closed his hand around something cold and smooth. A little befuddled, he pulled out his hand and saw something glint. When he opened his hand, he saw he was holding an actual snitch. (the paper was a hint??) He turned it over and saw that it was engraved...

"To Harry, good luck with Quidditch this year! from Aidan Lynch"

The engraving was actually signed by Lynch--the Irish seeker--and it was personalized! How did she--

"Ginny! Wha- I mean ho- wow!" he finally managed to say. Ginny just looked at him, smiling gleefully. She knew he would like it.

Ron looked on in amazement, for he had had no idea whatsoever that she had obtained this snitch either. But he wasn't ecstatic. Instead, he was a tad jealous.

"Ginny! How did you get that? Why does HE get it? Not even your own brother? Huh? you don't love me as much as you love him, do you?!?"

Before he could say anymore, Hermione clapped her hand over his mouth and gave him a look very similar to the one she had only just given Harry. Ginny looked at Ron; though he had been expecting a look somewhat like Hermione's, he noticed that hers looked quite pained. She didn't retort; in fact, she didn't speak at all. Instead, she handed Ron a long, heavy box. Ron felt a little ashamed of himself, and took the box quietly. He tried to fill the silence by unwrapping his paper rather noisily, but this only earned more scornful glances from Hermione, so he gave up on that. He opened the box and his heart skipped a beat. It was a Firebolt 3, the newest model. But not only that, it was signed as well...by the entire Chudley Cannons team. Underneath all of their signatures, it read: "Ron, hope you find some good use for this!"

Ron felt his entire face turn beet red as he looked at Ginny. Now he felt completely ashamed of himself.

"Ah, Gin..."

She gave a bit of a grin and started to fiddle with the blanket she was sitting fervently.

As Ginny sat playing with the blanket, a new thought came to Ron--

"Ginny, where in the world did you get the money to pay for all this? And how, exactly, did you happen to *meet* all these people? I mean, it's not like you can just happen to pass these people on the streets or something..."

Ginny continued to look down at and play with the blanket. For a moment, she didn't answer, and then...

"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you, but..."

"Yeees?" Ron pressed.

Ginny sighed heavily, avoiding his eyes.

HAHA!! What could it be? Is she doing something illegal? Does she lead a double life? Find out next time, on Complex Attractions!

(I've always wanted to do that…hehehe) Make sure to review!! Pwease!!


	30. Contradictory Collaboration

Hey all! Lauren here, and it's New Years Day! Happy new year! And as a present, here's an extra-long chapter! Okay, not **that **much longer, but still longer. All right? Quit your whining…sorry, I don't know where that came from. Anyway, hope you all like this one, and if not, then…quit your whining! Ah, there we go, fits right in. Okay, don't forget to review! And happy new year!

Lauren

Disclaimer: I'm sure that if I were drunk on this lovely new year's day that I would tell you that I owned Harry Potter, but as I am not yet 21 and therefore not allowed to drink, the chances of this happening are extraordinarily slim. So no, I don't own Harry Potter. 

Chapter thirty

Contradictory Collaboration

"Well, dad sort of, well, he sort of...took on a promotion..." 

"He did? Well, that's great! Why didn't he want you to tell me?" Ron asked, a smile breaking on his face.

"Well, he didn't want you to think that he did it because of the money...cause he didn't!" She now became unnecessarily defensive on that last sentence. She could feel a little tinge of embarrassment burning in her cheeks.

"Ginny, I wouldn't think that, ever. I understand. So what department is he in now?" he asked curiously.

"Well, he's working in some part of event publicity, or media, or something like that, and there was some Quidditch convention a couple weeks back...so he did me a favor...I hope that's alright..." she finished with a nervous smile.

They finished opening the rest of their presents, and Ron pointed out that they hadn't eaten breakfast that morning. The four of them left their presents on Ron's bed and headed down into the common room, where plenty of people were opening their presents as well. Ron grabbed a blanket off his bed quickly before he made it downstairs. After saying good morning to everyone, they walked out of the portrait hole. Hermione noticed Ron with the blanket wrapped around him and slid under his arm. He wrapped it around her and snuggled her close to him. Harry was walking next to Ginny, a safe distance between them. They were both fiddling with their hands, thinking about what Hermione had said. Harry knew she was right. Why was that? He wasn't embarrassed, was he? He couldn't determine the answer to his own question, so he figured the only way to tell was to try it. They had reached the entrance to the great hall when Harry quickly stuck out his foot, making Ginny fall, caught her in a twisted dip, and kissed her fervently. The girls at the heads of the table all fell witness to this and instantly swooned like a group of animals. The guys at the Gryffindor table began to whistle madly as the kiss continued into the double digits of seconds. Ron and Hermione, who had been in the lead, turned around to see what was going on, and Ron almost felt sick to his stomach. Hermione smiled, laughed a little, and led Ron away to the cheering boys at their table.

Finally, after a very long embrace, Harry tilted her back on her feet. Only then did he notice the rambunctious audience behind him, watching their every move. He blushed pink and looked at Ginny. Her entire face was a bright red, as if all the blood had rushed straight to her head. He figured out that that was probably what had actually happened. He was waiting for some sort of signal from her that everything was okay--he hadn't really imagined how she would respond before he went ahead and did it. After a moment of nothing, he found comfort in the grin that spread across her face. As they made their way across the room to their table, Ginny spoke in an undertone to Harry.

"Harry?" she whispered sweetly.

"Yes'm?" he answered, sounding quite chipper.

"Don't you *ever* do anything like that again without warning me..."

Harry looked at her, expecting a menacing sneer, but instead found a cheerful, complacent smile. He knew that she had completely enjoyed it.

The lovebirds reached the table and sat down, each with a secretly satisfied plop. Well, Ginny was the only one secretly satisfied. She was pretending to be upset with Harry, but inside she was so glad he had done it, it was one of the cutest things he had ever done. Hell, it was THE cutest thing he had ever done. As soon as they sat down, Ron reenacted the scene in perfect mockery: he took Hermione's fork, casually tossed it over his head, and waited for her to lean back to catch it. When she did, he slid his arm behind her to 'catch' her, then pulled her into the best dip he could while sitting at a table and embraced Hermione with a passion to rival Harry's. At first Hermione squirmed for a second, then gave in, as it was actually a very wonderfully seductive kiss. After a few moments, and a ton of laughter from everywhere in the great hall, he tipped her right-side up, stood up, and bowed among the many cheers and applause of the masses. Alas, the reenactment was so good that even Harry had to applaud him. Ginny just sat there, trying to suppress her laughter, and finally decided to clap for him as well. Hermione just lowered her head in embarrassment, hiding a wide grin.

For the rest of the day, Harry could hear cheers and swoons trail behind him wherever he went. He noticed that, whenever Ron wasn't there with him, the cheers weren't nearly as loud, but he kind of preferred it that way. Not that he didn't completely enjoy what Ron had done, he did. It was just that, after a while, it sounded like sirens were following him like cops on a criminal. It was getting a bit obnoxious.

That night rendered the season's first snow. Yeah, it came a little late, so sue me. Anyway, Ron had somehow managed to drag Hermione and Ginny outdoors. He was carrying Ginny under one arm and had Hermione in a piggy-back. Both of them were squealing, and Ginny was flailing madly, though both of them knew that one, there was no way of escape, and two, it was obvious that they were about to have the most fun all winter. Harry followed, but didn't take part in any of the kidnapping, mostly because he had filled his quota of the day prank-wise. He took the safe route and stayed out of this one. So he tagged behind joyously, taking in the cool smell of fresh snow (i'd imagine it smelled clean and fresh or something...) As soon as Ron felt they had reached a good spot, he let go of Ginny's waist, put Hermione down, and immediately picked up an armful of snow. Before he threw it, he rolled it around a few times in his hands and, before any of them could get away, their feet sticking in the deep snow, Ron had pelted each of them, knocking them to the ground.

The three victims tumbled to the ground, clutching their wounds and laughing hysterically. Somehow Ron was able to run much quicker in the snow than any of the others, so they had quite a hard time scrambling about in the snow, trying to catch up to him and attack him. Then, as if all four of them were reading each other's attacks, each of them hid behind their own tree, hoping to be hidden from view. None of them knew that they were all hidden, so when Ginny saw someone walking across the grounds, she naturally assumed it was Ron. With all of her might, she hurled her small but compact (and therefore much more painful) ammo at the perpetrator. Seconds after it left her hand, it hit hard, knocking him over with a loud cry. Ginny silently praised herself and stood up to taunt her new victim. She ran over to the moaning body and began to laugh.

"HA! GOTCHA!!! DIDN"T THINK I COULD PULL THAT OFF, DID YA????"

She turned him over and gasped loudly. For it wasn't Ron she had hit, it was—

"Malfoy?!?!" Ginny whispered, panicked. He slowly turned his head over, making it seem like he was in great pain. But as soon as his eyes met hers, he grinned maliciously. He had an immense amount of snow in his hands, which he conveniently scooped up while he was falling. Ginny's eyes grew big as he rolled up his snowball. As well as she could, she took off into the vast lands of snow before them. Malfoy sat up quickly and chucked the snowball at her retreating back. It hit her smack in the nape of her neck, and she shrilled.

"MALFOY!! Grr, am I gonna get you bad..."

The other three emerged from behind their respective trees, worried, as they had only heard the loud cries that had first come from Malfoy and then from Ginny. Harry looked shocked as he saw Ginny garnering snow as quickly as she could and laughing as she ducked shots from Malfoy. Ron and Hermione stood back as they watched Harry begin his approach to Malfoy. He was almost at Malfoy's position when he wondered what it was exactly that he was going to ask him. It wasn't like he was making any real contact with her, so he couldn't blame him for anything like that, but he only knew that something didn't seem right about this situation. Not at all. He opened his mouth to ask what the hell he thought he was doing when, unexpectedly, he found himself swallowing snow. He looked up at Malfoy, who was laughing evilly, and lost all thought of anything he was thinking about before. No, now it was time to get him back. He scooped up some snow and, within a few seconds, the three of them were engaged in a vicious yet strangely friendly battle. Ron had a very puzzled look on his face, with one of his famous lopsided grins to go with it. Hermione just looked on in shock. _Harry + Malfoy = friendly?_ After a few minutes, Hermione was struck by a stray snowball and fell over into the snow, grabbing the bottom of Ron's robe in an attempt to save herself. Or were those really her intentions?

Ron's knees gave out at the force of Hermione's fall and landed next to her. They both started laughing, and soon they had engaged in their own snowball fight, stuffing each other's faces with the powdery flakes. Just as Ron was about to stick some snow down the back of Hermione's shirt, she stopped his hand and paused. Ron leaned in, and as they pressed their lips together, they could feel the cold tips of each other's noses.

The day wore on, and the snowballs never ceased. At one point Ginny had chased Malfoy so close it was his only escape to climb up a tree. Mind you, his climbing wasn't quite so graceful, but he eventually made it up there. That may not have been the wisest decision, as Malfoy up in a tree was a much easier target than Malfoy running full speed on the ground. Harry had caught up with Ginny, and the two of them attacked him so persistently that they knocked him out of the tree. He fell with a muffled thud, and, worried, the other two ran over to see if he was okay. Of course, being Malfoy, he waited until Harry bent over to poke him to grab his arm and pull him down into the snow, and propelled himself off the ground. The day carried on like this, with Harry and Ginny against Malfoy, but what each of them kept in the back of their mind was that it had been so much...fun. Yes, fun with Malfoy. The concept was very strange indeed. But no matter how perplexing or astounding it was, it didn't stop any of them from playing.

So, what's up with Malfoy? Why is he suddenly fun? Is it just a façade? Will he stay this way? You'll just have to wait and see…


	31. Evident Evection?

Hey guys! This is Lauren here, your faithful author-writer-friend lady…I hope you all enjoy this chapter, even though it's a tad shorter than usual…yeah, don't complain, you got a chapter, didn't ya? Haha, just kidding, I love you all! Okay, well, until next time, friends…

Lauren

Disclaimer: Now, as much as I love entertaining you all and thinking of clever, witty disclaimers, today I simply cannot expel one from my cluttered mind. I hope none of you take offense, and I will try again tomorrow. In the meanwhile, let me just say simply that I do **not** own Harry Potter, no matter how much I wish I did…

Chapter thirty-one

Evident Evection?

The sun was setting, and so it was time for them to retreat to the castle. The day had proven Malfoy not an enemy, though none of them were prepared to declare such a thing. As soon as Ginny pointed out the rising of the moon, Malfoy seemed to tense up. He rose from the snow, pulled his cloak around him tightly, and, without a word, headed off alone towards the entrance hall. Harry and Ginny exchanged confused looks, but at the same time were a little relieved. They were almost led to believe that Malfoy was becoming their...Harry couldn't even fathom including the words 'Malfoy' and 'friend' in the same sentence. It appeared that Malfoy had felt the same way.

Harry linked arms with Ginny, deciding to accept that what had just happened was just a holiday oddity, and so they weren't to think too much of it. They set off to find where the other two had disappeared to. When they finally caught view of them, they were leaned up against a tree--well, Ron was against the tree, Hermione was leaned against him--and they were both huddled up. Ginny couldn't suppress her coos at the sight of them sleeping against each other and the tree. She found it hard to disturb them, but she resignedly sighed and woke them up. After a few minutes of embarrassed mumbling, ("hmm, wha? where--blimey, what are we doing here?" Ron cried. He had been dreaming of being lost in a snowstorm, chased by a mutant snowman...) the four crusaders headed off to dinner.

As soon as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Ginny caught a glance at the Slytherin table. Seeing Malfoy glare at her maliciously had never been a shock before, but this time it unnerved her a bit. Hadn't they just been having fun though? Another odd thing she noticed was that Crabbe wasn't sitting at the table with them. It then dawned on her that Crabbe had left--she had completely forgotten about his father and all of that...she looked at Harry with a bit of disdain on her face.

"Harry, Crabbe is gone..." she almost whispered.

Harry looked over his shoulder and saw that he really was.

Ron had overheard as well, but he didn't bother to look. He just snorted a bit and looked at his plate grimly.

"Well, that's just one less crony of Malfoy's to deal with then. Wonderful!"

Hermione elbowed Ron, making him scatter his peas across the table.

"'Mione! What?" he cried, half joking and half seriously.

"No matter how much we hate Crabbe, you have to understand what Malfoy's going through..." she had decided to end it there, but she continued at the sight of Ron rolling his eyes.

"Look, imagine if Harry suddenly had to leave, and you found out he weren't to return to Hogwarts. Ever. How would you feel?" she asked, and she immediately knew (by Ron's sudden blanching face) that she had gotten to him. Ron suddenly looked at Harry with the most caring and mournful face Harry had ever seen, and it was all Harry could do to laugh.

"Ron, don't mourn, it doesn't suit you."

Ron feigned hurt and loaded his spoon with the peas he had scattered earlier. Before Hermione could stop him, Harry was ambushed by an army of peas. "Harry, I thought you cared!" he whined.

"How could you...you heartless bastard! I gave you my heart, and what do you do? You rip it to pieces!" Ron was nearly laughing now, finding it even harder to hold back when he tried to keep a straight face.

"Sorry Ron, you just weren't my type! I don't go for red hair!" he teased, while propelling bits of yorkshire pudding at his bright head of hair.

Now Ginny was 'offended'.

"Oh you little weasel..." she growled at Harry.

"Nope, sorry, I think that would be you!" he retorted.

Needless to say, within minutes, the entire Gryffindor population was engaged in war. Hermione was scrambling under the table as quickly as she could, but not without a handful of Ron's peas and a spoon.

Hermione loaded up her spoon with peas and, without looking, flung them at whoever happened to be in her path. But as soon as she let go of the tip of the spoon, all she could hear was the sound of her own giggling. She felt panicked at the sudden, inexplicable silence, and she could feel trouble looming above her head as she peeked her head over the edge of the table to see what was happening. Her eyes met a very red-in-the-face (and pea-covered) McGonagall. She had come over to stop all of the nonsense when she had been unexpectedly attacked by warrior peas. Hermione gulped and reluctantly stood up to face her. McGonagall could barely speak the words that she was about to say, but when she did, they were no less frightening. 

"Miss Granger…as a prefect, I would have expected behavior from you, but as it is Christmas break, I will forget this little…incident," she growled as a pea slowly slid its way down her cheek. "Next time I'd be more careful…" She slowly skulked off in the direction of the faculty bathroom, and Hermione could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. 

Ron seemed to be taking it much better than she was. He simply shrugged it off and joked about how funny it was to see McGonagall's face all blotchy and red when she got mad. Of course, he couldn't **not** point out the sliding pea. Harry was chuckling to himself, as it had all been very funny, and Ginny nudged his arm and glanced pointedly at the head table. Harry saw Dumbledore was even chuckling, though he received a piercing glare from the passing McGonagall. Dumbledore wasn't the only one receiving said look. Hermione was giving an exact replica of the look to Ron through her tomato-red cheeks. Ron heeded her anger, and he slumped deeply into the bench and stared at his plate. 

Ron did his best not to make any jokes about the food fight after dinner, one because he knew that Hermione was very upset about it, and two because, well, if you were Hermione's boyfriend and you wanted to live through the night, you'd shut up about it too. As they were leaving the great hall, Harry gave one last hopeful glance at Malfoy, who was sneering more than ever. This usually would have comforted him, but for some reason he felt a tad let down, as though he were expecting at least a little kind acknowledgement. He pondered why he felt this way as he ascended the stairs.

Why **does** he feel that way?? Will Hermione forgive Ron? Will Malfoy start being nice again unexpectedly? Will McGonagall ever get the peas off her face? And most importantly, will we **ever** find out where Crabbe went and why?????

I guess we'll just have to wait until the next chapter of…

COMPLEX ATTRACTIONS!!!!!!

Heeheeheeheehee…


	32. Twisted Trance and Visiting Voices

Hey guys! Lauren here, with lovely chapter thirty-two. Yes, here it is! And this one's so special that I gave it **two** titles! Oh, and if anyone can tell me what the word is that describes the way I do my titles— you know, where they both start with the same letter— cause for the life of me I can't remember! So if anyone can tell me what word it is, I'll throw in a bonus chapter! On the day that someone tells me, not right now…Please, there's gotta be someone out there who knows! I'm driving me crazy! Okay, I'm better now. Oh, and I liked this chapter, it was a little confusing. Lots of new things are happening. Yay! Oh, and I promise that I'll address the hate potion thing in the next chapter! I've already got it all planned out in me head…Hope you enjoy this one! And please review!! Oh, and I don't know if anyone noticed, but Madison pointed out that Hermione and Ginny are in different years, and therefore in different dorms, so I corrected that little mistake. Thanks Madison! Sorry you guys, I'm dumb, I admit it…

Lauren

Disclaimer: Look dammit! I don't own Harry Potter!!!!

(that was simple)

Chapter thirty-two

Twisted Trance and Visiting Voices

That night, the common room was nearly silent, besides the crackling of the fire and the occasional snickers shared between Harry and Ginny, who sat watching Ron try to get Hermione to look at him. But she refused. Boy, was she angry. _Why doesn't she just get over it? It wasn't that big of a deal anyway. McGonagall would probably forget all about it by morning…_Ron kept thinking to himself, over and over, as he cleared is throat, then waved his hands for her attention. None was granted. Hermione stared into the fire unremittingly. After a while, Ron gave up. _This is just getting obnoxious. Ridiculous! She can't stay mad at me forever…_ but one last time he tried for her to acknowledge him, and one last time she ignored it. 

When Ron broke the silence, it was so unexpected that it was almost earth-shattering.

"Oi! You know what, this is just- just- dumb! That's what it is, dumb! I give up! Geez Hermione, it's not like you got expelled! Nothing happened. People do dumb things everyday. And people get in trouble everyday! You were just having fun, and it's not the end of the world! Get **over** yourself!!" And with that, he stormed off towards the boys' quarters. 

Hermione looked up at his now empty place in the chair and felt anger and wretchedness building up inside of her. She turned to Harry and Ginny, who by now looked a tad shocked. Ron scolding Hermione? That was definitely a change. Sure, they argued and yelled at each other before, but it was usually Hermione who put Ron in his place. 

The two of them sat, watching Hermione with expectant expressions.

"Who does he think he is?? Telling me to get over myself…he doesn't understand, I'm a prefect, McGonagall was right in expecting better behavior from me…telling me to get over myself…" she said, starting with a shout and ending in a whisper. Harry and Ginny simply glanced at one another, not knowing what to say. While they (sort of) understood what Hermione was saying, she had taken it to a sort of ridiculous level. Of course, they couldn't say anything of the sort to her, so they just kept quiet. A few minutes later Harry heard Ginny yawn, so they said goodnight to Hermione and he escorted Ginny up to her dorm. It would probably be better for Hermione to have some time alone.

Upstairs, Ron was glaring at the ceiling as if it were Malfoy. And boy, if looks could kill, Malfoy the ceiling would be crumbling away that second. _Why is she so…stubborn? Conceited? So damn self-righteous?? Grr…_ he couldn't take laying down anymore, so he grudgingly headed back downstairs to sit in front of the fire. Before he hit the last step, he heard the sound of muffled sobbing. He stood on his toes to see over the back of the couch and onto the floor, where Hermione was crying into a cushion. The grudge clouding over his heart dissolved instantly as he continued to listen. He wanted so badly to go over and comfort his Mione, but something held him back. Maybe, for once, he should let her be. He hesitantly turned around and began to climb the stairs back up to the room, but he noticed that her crying ceased, which made him stop in his tracks.

"R-Ron?" she called out, somewhat restrained by her tears. 

He sighed and turned around. There was no way he could resist her when she needed him.

"Yes?" he asked, hoping to sound impatient, but instead sounding concerned. _Damn feelings!_ he cursed to himself. She stared down at the floor and played with her fingers.

"I— well, I guess, what I want to say is, I'm sorry…you were right. I was over-reacting, and I was being, well, dumb. I'm so sorry if I hurt you, I-"

But she was interrupted by Ron's lips. He had crossed the room while Hermione was busy eyeing the carpet. She was a little surprised, but pleasantly of course. She drew her arms up around his neck and pulled him closer. After a moment, he pulled away and smiled. Hermione was grateful to see his smile once again, and she smiled as well, resting her head against his shoulder. 

After moments of silence…

"You know Mione, it wouldn't hurt you to lighten up a little bit…"

She looked at him threateningly and punched him on the shoulder. But she kept the idea in the back of her mind. _You know, Hermione, the boy's right…_ she heard a voice say. **_And who are *you*?_** she asked the intruder. She wasn't so sure she liked the idea of someone else in her head. _Oh, don't worry, I'm sure you'll find me **quite**__ useful…_ But when Hermione tried to find the voice again, it didn't respond. She was honestly quite perplexed. Ron noticed she was deep in thought.

"Hermione, is something bothering you?" 

She shook her head, deciding it was probably nothing at all. She was just tired. 

Thirty minutes later, Ron was staring at the full moon when he heard a noise outside the window. Hermione had obviously not noticed, cause when Ron turned his head to ask her about it, her head was drooping against his shoulder, and she was fast asleep. He chuckled, then peeled himself off the back of the couch, scooped up Hermione, and carried her up to her dorm. When he laid her down on her bed, she squirmed a little and whispered, _no, don't take Ron, take me instead…_ Ron was a little startled, but remembered it was only a dream and figured it was nothing to get worked up about. He tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead, and before he descended the stairs, turned around to steal one last glance at his love before heading off to bed himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning, Hermione awoke with a headache. She opened her mouth to ask no one in particular for an aspirin, but the words refused to come out. She tried clearing her throat, but that only made it worse. Now when she tried to speak, it hurt. Confused, she stood up, walked all the way to Ginny's dorm, and after finding her, shook her awake. When she finally turned over and opened her eyes, she moaned in annoyance. 

"Hermione, what is it?" she asked impatiently.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, and once again no words would leave her. Ginny raised her eyebrows. 

"What?? Can't you speak?"

Hermione shook her head frantically. 

"Oh? Why not? What's wrong?" asked Ginny, becoming concerned.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Like she was supposed to know!

Ten minutes later, the two of them were in Madam Pomfrey's office, receiving the infamous Pepper potion. She somehow convinced Hermione that the Pepper solution could solve anything. And soon enough, Hermione could speak again. Madam Pmfrey told her that she was most likely just coming down with a cold. By that time they were both so hungry that Hermione had forgotten anything about the dream in which she and Ron were tied to burning trees. 


	33. Misleading Mistake

Hey guys! Fresh out of the oven here for ya! Oh man, now I'm hungry…no, honestly, I am. Anyway, here you go! I hope you all like it, it's full of…well, that's for you to find out. Oh, and by the way, you're in for a huge plot twist…don't say I didn't warn you! Oh yeah, and thank you to Madison, who solved my puzzle and set my mind at ease, the magic word was alliteration. And if you guys all figured that out too, well, you're all a hell of a lot smarter than me! So that special extra chapter will be coming out later today, seeing as how it's 1:30 in the morning here…

Lauren

Disclaimer: Haha, yeah, this **is** a great plot line, thank you, (HAHAHAHA!!!! As if) but unfortunately, that's the only part of this story I own. Nope, don't own the characters. Ah poo, then I could have been *super* cool! Oh well…

Chapter thirty-three

Misleading Mistake

During breakfast, Ginny kept watching Malfoy, like she expected him to just look up and smile at her, even though she knew he wouldn't. Still, she had that little childish hope inside of her, and it kept her wishing and waiting. Actually, she didn't know why she cared that much. After all, it **was** Malfoy, not like he mattered to them anyway. He never had and he never would. Or maybe they were wrong. Maybe he would matter. A lot. 

Ginny felt a little unnerved at his odd behavior…so unnerved that she found she couldn't eat her breakfast any more. She politely excused herself, much to the other three's confusion, and headed out of the great hall. At that moment, Malfoy noticed her exit, but more than that, he noticed the look on her face. She looked upset, and utterly disappointed. He couldn't help what he did next. 

He suddenly stood up, almost knocking into his orange juice, and ran as best he could without attracting attention to follow her. _Why am I following her? _He asked himself as he passed through the doorway. There she was, climbing the stairs to Gryffindor tower. Something unreal made him do it…

"Ginny!"

She turned around slowly, recognizing that voice as not one she was too familiar with. Something told her it was…yes, it was Malfoy! _What is he doing calling my name?_ She wondered. 

She looked at him, expecting him to say something. But he didn't. He just stood there, staring blankly at her. Soon she grew impatient and began to turn around when he felt him grab her arm. _Boy, he's fast…_ she thought to herself as he spun her around. 

"Ginny, I need to talk to you…" he whispered secretively. Before she could answer, she felt herself being led away somewhere. 

After a few minutes she saw that they were outside, nearing the Quidditch field. He led her over to the locker room and sat her down on the bench in the back. He would have sat down next to her, but he was too busy pacing back and forth nervously. Ginny watched him curiously, wondering what this was all about.

Finally…

"I need to— to tell you something," he said hesitantly. 

Ginny just nodded, afraid to break his train of thought that it had taken so long for him to establish.

A few more minutes, then…

"Ginny, I- well, I've been thinking a lot, and—" 

But before he could finish, there was a loud crash somewhere near the entrance of the locker room. Malfoy snapped his neck around, his nerves jolted. Ginny looked over as well, but she was more frustrated than shaken. He was trying to tell her something important, who was making all that noise?

Ron and Harry walked in, looking embarrassed and smiling sheepishly.

"Oh uh, hello there…we were just uh, you know, making sure the brooms and everything were locked up and stuff…yeah. We um, we didn't know you guys were in here…" Ron said with the most unconvincing red tint all over his face while Harry nodded supportively. Ginny growled at him and turned around to face Malfoy again, but he was gone. He had run off again. Now Ginny was really upset. 

"God, you guys! You two are such prats, you know that??" she said as she stormed past them, knocking them aside.

"What? We told you, we came to check on the brooms!" Ron said defensively as they followed her. Harry nudged him in the ribs. He obviously didn't get that she had seen right through that excuse.

"You guys were **spying** on me! God, I'm not a little kid, I don't need a babysitter!" she growled. 

Now Harry was getting angry. 

"Spying on you? Well, maybe we wouldn't have to spy on you if you weren't going around with Malfoy!! What were you two doing in the locker room, for crying out loud???"

Ginny turned around sharply. 

"Are you implying, Mr. Potter, that I was going around, behind your back, and cheating on you with Malfoy? Because that's what it sounds like to me…" she said, with the most annunciated tone in her voice that shook Ron's bones. Harry, meanwhile, wasn't scared at all. He had dealt with much worse. 

"I don't know, you tell me, Weasley…"

Ron looked back and forth between them nervously. But he dared not say anything.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Draco was trying to tell me something, and he would have had you two creeps come and ruined it! You scared him away! God you guys are such pricks!" With that she stomped off toward the castle, leaving a fuming Harry and a frightened Ron.

Ginny's mind was racing. She didn't know what she was doing or where she was going. But her heart was pounding faster than she ever imagined a heart could beat. She finally reached the steps up to the entrance hall and walked inside. She didn't even pause as she felt her legs take her in the direction of the dungeons. The closer she got, the more it all seemed clear: she had to get away from Harry. As far away as she could. She reached the portrait hole to the Slytherin common room and paused for the first time since she left the field. _This could be a bit of a problem…_ But lucky for her, Malfoy happened to be leaving the common room for the library at that very moment. As soon as he stepped out she saw the look on his face and sighed, which caught his attention and spun him around. 

"Ginny," he whispered.

She smiled softly. _All he needs is a friend…_

"Malfoy, what were you going to—"

But she was cut off. Malfoy put his finger up to her lips and, after a moment of looking into her eyes, slowly leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. She was shocked, of course, but the thing was, she didn't stop him from doing it. She just sort of, gave in, you could say. Her mind was reeling even more. _What am I doing? I'm still Harry's girlfriend! If he found out about this…_ But then a different thought entered her head. _Good! Let the little bastard know that he's not the boss of you! Who cares what he thinks! _Even if Ginny had been given a choice, she would have picked the second one. She wasn't giving in to Harry that easily.

And with that, she began to kiss him back.

She had no idea how much she would regret that.

After a moment she pulled away, feeling a bit vindicated. But the look on Malfoy's face made her realize that it hadn't been the same for him as it had for her.

His eyes were the only part of his face that she could read. He looked at her confusedly, as if he were trying very hard to hold back all emotion until she revealed hers first. But his eyes, they were shining…filled with pain and sorrow…but when she looked deeper than that, she saw something else, something glinting…she had reached something. Opened something up, and she could see it there, in his eyes. And she knew that she didn't feel the same way about him. She just wanted to help him, to be his friend…now what could she do? She merely smiled feebly and sighed. She was in quite the predicament. 


	34. Void Valiance

'Ello 'ello! Lauren here! And this is the beginning of the end. Chapter thirty-four is right here, and this is the second to last chapter. Yes, 35 is the end, and the sequel will start up where this leads off. Don't worry, we'll be on the same schedule, so chapter one of 'still untitled' (creative, huh?) will be posted within the next couple of days, depending on when I come up with a name for the story!! Haha, if you guys have any suggestions, please let me know. At the same time, you don't really know what the them of the story, and you won't know until the last chapter of this one, so you might not be able to. Actually, since I'm posting the 35th chapter tonight, you will be able to tell me your suggestions! Okay, that was a very confusing train of thought…enjoy this chapter, though I doubt that it's enjoyable. It's rather sad really. No! not giving anything away! Read on! Power to you! and I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter! I was worried. Thanks for all the many reviews! 

Lauren

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER!!!!!!

Chapter thirty-four

Void Valiance 

Harry and Ron watched as Ginny disappeared. Ron's hands were shaking uncontrollably, he just didn't know what to do with himself. He was a little shocked, yes, but more so at Harry's behavior than at Ginny's. Harry had stooped as low as Malfoy himself in calling her Weasley. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more he realized how right Ginny was. They shouldn't have been spying on her. Yes, yes, it had been his idea, but it wasn't supposed to turn out this way. He had only meant it to be a joke, and then there was the fact that they meant not to be caught. And Harry got just a bit carried away with it all, really. Ginny really wasn't the kind of person to do anything Harry accused her of— or, to be accurate, implied that she did. Ron was smart enough to figure out that, now that she had been provoked, all hell could break loose at any moment. But, being the cautious friend he was, he kept his thoughts to himself.

Harry glared at the empty field in front of him. No, she had been long gone, but just the memory of her standing there was enough to cause him to glare. He couldn't understand what had just happened. He couldn't even understand why he was glaring at the thought of her. He loved her, he really did. And he trusted her. Right?… Well?

If it was taking him this long to think about it, that couldn't be a good sign. Not at all. 

"Well Harry, I'm gonna, er, head back to see what Hermione's up to… you coming?" Ron asked tentatively.

Harry nodded. _Yes, it doesn't do well to dwell…_

They slowly headed back to the castle, and as Ron looked up at the sky, he could see rain clouds forming overhead. _Ooh, what a **perfect**__ time for rain…_ he said, referring to the whole incident grimly. 

They drudged up the stairs towards their tower and were nearly thrown backward in shock (okay so only Ron was. Harry was too angry to be shocked) when Hermione practically rammed into them at the top of the staircase. After catching her breath and picking up her books, she noticed the appearance of the two boys.

"Well, you two look like a cheery bunch…what happened?" she asked teasingly, obviously not picking up any sort of reading on the situation. 

Harry was about to open his mouth and retell the whole story when Ron jumped in first. _If I can tell her first, at least she'll get the unbiased view…_

"Why don't we head back to the common room first…" he said hurriedly. Hermione looked at him questioningly, but followed nonetheless, with Harry in tow. They climbed through the portrait hole and made their way into an isolated corner. Ron began telling his side of the story, which, fortunately for Hermione, was the narrator's perspective. Harry, meanwhile, leaned his head against the wall and watched the ceiling, torn between frustration, anger, and sadness. He had been quite mean to Ginny, but why was she acting so defensively toward Malfoy? He felt trapped. He didn't want to talk to anybody about it except Ginny, who happened to be the last person he wanted to speak to. 

Ron had just finished the story when Ginny came tumbling through the portrait hole, looking red in the face and befuddled. She gave a glance over to the three in the corner and took off for her dorm room. Hermione cast a questioning look at Ron, and when he nodded, she got up to follow her. 

She knocked gently on the door and stepped in. Ginny was sitting on her bed, heand in her hands. Hermione could hear her sobbing softly. She walked over to her bed and pulled a chair over to sit in. 

"Ginny, what is it?"

Ginny looked up through a curtain of tears and sighed heavily. Her eyes shifted around the room, as if she was looking for a possible eavesdropper, and she lowered her head to Hermione.

"Hermione, I've— I've done something awful…"

Hermione looked at her sympathetically.

"Ginny, you stood up for yourself! That's not awful at all! Even if Harry did get upset, he shouldn't have been spying on you!" she said while Ginny shook her head.

"No, no, you don't understand…it happened after that. It was…I can't believe I…"

Hermione looked at her confusedly, waiting for her confession. 

Now Ginny lowered her voice.

"I um, well, I kissed Draco," she said finally, looking down at her bed. Hermione gasped, and Ginny felt even more ashamed than she had before. But she didn't notice that Hermione wasn't the only one who gasped. 

"What? What do you mean? How did this happen? What did he say? Where was this? How could you do this?" Hermione asked frantically. 

"Hermione, please!! Please, it's bad enough as it is, I don't need your scolding!" Ginny cried.

"You're right, you're right, I'm sorry. I just— I guess I'm just…shocked."

"After I left the Quidditch field, I suddenly felt my feet taking me down to the dungeons. I didn't know why, it just happened, okay? And I figured that since I was already going down there I could ask him what he wanted to tell me. It was really pestering me, I had to know. So I got down there, and I was about to ask him, until he stopped me! He wouldn't let me speak! And then he just, he just…he kissed me. And I couldn't stop him. And right then, something told me that if I stopped him, it would be giving in to Harry, and I couldn't do that. Not then, not when I was so angry. And so…I— I kissed him back," she said remorsefully.

Hermione looked at her kindly, much like Dumbledore would if she were explaining to him this situation. 

"Ginny, I understand. Really, I do. Completely. But, what happened afterward? I mean, did he tell you? What he was going to say?"

Ginny nodded slowly, looking like she was bearing the weight of the world on her shoulder.

"Er, he said that…he told me that it had been him who gave you the potion. Remember? The one I figured out was supposed to be for me?" she sighed. 

Hermione's eyes grew large as she drew her hand to her mouth. Ginny put her head back in her hands and began sobbing again. 

Outside the door, a very shocked Ron and an immeasurably furious Harry stood at the top of the stairs. Harry turned to head down the stairs, his hands in fists.

"H—Harry?" Ron quivered.

But Harry just stomped his way down the stairs, without turning back. 


	35. Distressing Denouement

Hey guys! It's here, the last chapter! Yes yes, sad, I know. But the sequel's in the works as we speak! Meaning I'll probably post the first chapter sometime tomorrow. Yay! Anyway, sorry I didn't post this last night-something always happens when I say I'll post the bonus one! Well, last night, I got tired and was about to finish, but everything I was writing was just, well, crappy. And I didn't want to give you guys a crappy finale, so I had to do it today and make it all nice and better. So I hope you forgive me, and enjoy the chapter! And the next story's going to be called 'Take It or Leave It' . I know, random at first, but you'll understand later, alright? And I'll post an a/n to give you guys the link, okay?? Hope you like it! I'm out!

Lauren

Disclaimer: Yo, I don't own Harry Potter, so lay off me! (heehee)

Chapter thirty-five

Distressing Denouement

"Harry, stop it! You've got to get your head together before you do anything irrational!" Ron yelled, grabbing Harry's tense wrist and spinning him around.

Harry sighed and relaxed a little. Ron was right. This was completely unlike him. He took a deep breath, sat down in one of the chairs, and watched the fire.

"I just…I just don't understand why she did that…I know she was upset, but…" he couldn't find a way to voice what he was thinking. Hell, he didn't even know what he was thinking in the first place.

"Harry, I'm sure that it meant nothing to her, nothing at all. You know how much she loves you Harry. Come on, admit it! You know it, and I know it. Hermione knows it…bloody hell Harry, my whole family knows! The whole school knows! Even Trelawney could tell you that! I mean, you can't possibly think that she would actually give you up for Malfoy, can you?" Ron said, easing Harry's mind. He was right. She had told him she loved him. He had almost given up on them, and she chased him down and made the first move, something neither of them believed she could ever do. She put up with the fact that he took forever to realize how he felt about her. And she still loved him. All this time she had dealt with his issues, and she hadn't complained one bit. She really did love him, didn't she... This sudden realization really took Harry by surprise. The idea that someone could love another person without them even knowing it. It was a very strange concept indeed, but it put a smile on his face.

"See? There you go! You know it's true! I think you guys should talk to each other, you know, apologize and all that. You guys will be just fine! Now do you wanna go get her, or shall I?" he asked cheerfully. Harry stood up determinedly.

"I think I'll go get her," he said as he headed up the stairs.

He knocked on the door and slowly pushed it open. He peeked in and saw Ginny walking around and Hermione sitting in her chair.

"Ginny, I was wondering if I could talk to you…" he asked pointedly, and Hermione got the hint. She stood up, smiled faintly at the two of them, and slid past Harry and down the stairs.

Harry walked inside and sat in the now vacant chair, facing Ginny.

"Ginny, I wanted to apologize about today, I was really out of line, and mean, and we shouldn't have been spying on you…" he started, hoping she would jump in any time and forgive him. But she stayed silent, still pacing around the room.

After a few moments of discerning silence, she stopped and sat on the end of the bed next to his chair.

"Harry, there's something I have to tell you…" she said wearily.

"If it's about Malfoy, I already know!" he said cheerfully, hoping it would fix the situation.

"I know what happened, it's okay! I mean, at first I was mad, but I thought about it, and I understood why, and it's okay!"

Ginny looked at him suspiciously.

"Wait-how do you know?"

"Erm, well, see, I uh…" he stalled. _Crap, what do I tell her??_ He sighed.

"Ginny, I heard through the door…Ron and I, we were listening," he whispered. Ginny dropped her shoulders and closed her eyes, lowering her head.

Harry watched her as she began to pace the length of the room again. _I wonder what she's thinking right now…it can't be good, whatever it is…_

Finally, she stood still and leaned against the bedpost away from Harry.

"Harry, I care about you a whole lot. In fact, of all the people I know, I may care about you the most. Which is why what I'm about to say may seem very… unexpected. And I'm not quite sure how to say it, so um, bear with me, alright?" Harry nodded slowly. Ginny looked down at the floor as she spoke.

"It's really hard to be in a relationship when you don't trust each other. And even though you might try to deny it, you don't trust me Harry." Harry opened his mouth to rebut her statement, but she held her hand up to stop him. Harry reluctantly closed his mouth and looked at the floor.

"Let's face it Harry, you've spied on me twice now. Twice, in one day! Harry, what am I supposed to think? People don't spy on each other when they trust each other! This isn't right; we can't just keep going on like this…" Harry kept shaking his head, he couldn't understand what she was saying. "Just admit it! Please, it would make this so much easier…" she said, fighting back the tears she could feel building up behind her eyes. _Don't cry, whatever you do, don't cry…_

She began pacing around the room again, as Harry watched her wring her hands. He wondered when she would stop.

"Today, when I left the field, and I was following Malfoy, all I could think about was how much I wanted to get away from you, and how angry I with you. And I didn't even realize it until he kissed me, but I wanted so much to do anything I could to upset you. Harry, you know that's not normal. No one should think that about anyone. Especially not someone they love. And I love you Harry. I really love you. But--"

"But what?" he asked weakly.

"But we can't do this. Not now. I can't take it. You don't trust me, and I subconsciously want to hurt you. That's just how it is. And even if we keep trying, I can't convince you to trust me, and you cant not express yourself just so that I won't get upset and start this all over again. Which is why I think its best if-"

She couldn't do it. The tears were threatening to burst through at any moment. She felt her hands trembling behind her back. She stuffed them in her robe pockets and tried her best to look at Harry.

"I think we shouldn't be together. We should stop. Now, before we hurt each other any more," she said finally.

Harry stared at her blankly. _We're breaking up? But-but-I love you! _he shouted inside his mind.

"Yes, I guess so…" was all he could say.

_He's not even going to try and deny it? Wow, I guess I was right, _she thought sadly.

"Well then, I suppose it's settled then. We shouldn't be together…right?" she asked, giving him one more chance.

"No, I suppose you're right…we uh, shouldn't be together," he said emotionlessly as he stood up to leave. Ginny's heart sank, but she didn't show it. He moved towards the door, walked out, and headed downstairs, throwing Ginny one last weak smile. She closed the door and collapsed on the bed, buried her head in her pillow and sobbed.

Harry sat in a chair next to Ron and Hermione and didn't say a word. He just gazed into the fire, watching the flames flicker up and down, like the waves of the ocean. The fire hypnotized him, and for a moment, everything was lifted from his mind and thrown into the flames…and along with it went his heart.


	36. author's note!

Okay you guys, here's the scoop:

The new story is called "Take It or Leave It". If you're wondering about the selection of my title, I'll explain…

Right now I'm listening to the Strokes, right, and my favorite song off the album is…Take It or Leave It. I was pondering the lyrics and it all made sense…the lyrics portray the story, and their current situation, so it all works out! If you know the song but don't know what I mean, you will soon, don't worry. Okay, anyway, since the story focuses more on Harry and Ginny (don't worry, there's still PLENTY of R/H!!! just as there was H/G in the last one, there will be an immense amount of R/H in this one…we just focus a little bit more on the H/G relationship, or lack thereof, in this one, alrighty?) this time, if you go look for it, it's under their characters, not Ron and Hermione. And it's still PG-13, just so you know. Alright, so here's the link then:

http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1165831

Alrighty!!! Have fun! First chapter's up! Hope you like it! And thank you all soooooooo much for reading my story and sticking with me, you don't know how much I appreciate it!! And since I love you all soo much, here's a tribute, to each and every one of you!! *inhales deeply* here we go…

(in the order in which they star)

Racer of Lightning

Hermione Cline (partner in crime!!)

j.j. Alan

venus

dreamkin

Curlsofgold

Mag

Zdriu

Bella Black

Hermione18

Hermandron4ever

Nightshadow67

Snwflakesweety (love ya allie! Still waiting for more!)

Berta501

Rupert Fan

Taryn

Misa

MUH!!!!! Buddy! This one's for you!

Ali Simmons

Wendy

Gigaku

The Coolest

MFCA

Mary Stardust

Lilyevans24

Hermionereincarnated

Kickedoutofthegoblet

Abi

Eva

Goddess-shinigami

Ivyjammin

Lulu!

Moonflower

Laura

Renata

I Luv Harry Potter

Ix Kara xI

Stardust

Centaur30 (I forgive you, I wasn't really mad, and you have every right to express your opinion)

Sara

Kelpiemonkey

15Dramaqueen

Madison (ol buddy ol pal!)

Zoe Potter

Karri-Granger

Natalie

Pixii-stixii (my unknown best friend!!)

Kaulay

Simone

Weasleygal

SweetIris98

Badangel00013

Lizzie

Chessmaster60

Irusta

Blueivy

Katie

Chiara

Miyuki133

Thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews, I love them! They have made me a better person! I hope you read 'Take It or Leave It'!!!!

With lots and lots of love,

Lauren


	37. Obscene Outcomes alternate ending

A/N: Hey guys, it's Lauren. Here's the alternate ending. It's a little darker and more violent than I usually write, so if you don't like that stuff, don't read it. Don't worry, it's not too bad. I hope you guys like it! Tell me what you think! If you guys really like it, I may even do a little _Sliding Doors_ thing and continue the story in two forms, the one as it is now, and what would have happened after this, if I had used this one. Hmm…we'll see. Review and tell me what you think!

Lauren

Disclaimer: No own Harry Potter.

Chapter thirty-five

Obscene Outcomes

"Harry, what—Harry, what are you planning to do?" Ron asked, frightened for his life and knowing **exactly** what he was planning to do. 

But Harry didn't listen. There was too much adrenaline running through his veins. 

"Harry! Come on now, just breathe, it's not that bad really! I mean—"

"Not so bad?? NOT SO BAD!! Are you kidding me?!?! Ron, Malfoy not only kissed my girlfriend and your sister, but he also caused one of the most depressing moments of your life!! Have you forgotten what you went through when Hermione didn't talk to you and said she hated your guts?? Ron, that practically killed you! How can you tell me that's not that bad?" he yelled, smoke practically rising from his ears. The common room had fallen completely silent, besides the inevitable cough from the left side of the room. All eyes were on Harry and Ron, who were in the middle of the room. 

Ron's face was turning red. _Yes, it's true, it did almost kill me, he's right…oh god, what am I gonna do? Ah, I know exactly what's gonna happen, the question is, do I want to be involved? _

Ron shook his head determinedly.

"Let's go, Harry."

With that, the common room parted and Harry and Ron skulked through to the portrait hole. People gasped and whispered frantically, wondering what was going to happen. The two of them climbed through the portrait hole, followed by a crowd of followers. Harry would have told them to stay behind, but he was too focused on the upcoming moments. 

Upstairs, Ginny and Hermione had heard every word Harry had said. Yep, he was that loud. Ginny felt her heart drop into her stomach as Hermione nearly fainted. What were they doing?? There was no way this would turn out well. Ginny ran to the door and slid down the stairs as fast as she could, with Hermione not far behind. Ginny tried her best to push through the crowd, but they were quite persistent.

"Let me through!!" she yelled, but the noise was so loud no one heard her. _Merlin, I've got to stop them, god knows what kind of trouble they'll get into. And Draco! Oh god, oh god, oh god… _ She pushed even further through the crowd and finally began to squeeze her way through.

She made it to the portrait hole and pulled herself through hopefully, only to find another crowd of people in her way. 

"Merlin!! What the hell am I supposed to do now??" she asked no one in particular.

Hermione finally made it to Ginny, completely out of breath. She grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her right into the next crowd. "Hermi-" she shrieked before she was swallowed by the swarm of people. 

"Harry, are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Ron asked, checking once more before they descended the stairs to the entrance hall. Harry looked at Ron and nodded.

"All right…"he sighed. 

If Harry was doing it, than Ron would to. There was no way he would abandon a best friend in need.

Malfoy was sitting in the great hall with Goyle, laughing and eating, when he looked up at the ceiling and saw the rain as it began to trickle. _Mm, looks like a storm is coming…_ he thought nonchalantly. He had no idea what a storm it was.

Ginny and Hermione slowly crawled in between the crowd, coming up for air every once in a while. People sure were obstructive. But just as they thought they were finally getting somewhere, the people stopped. 

"What's going on?" Ginny asked, trying to stand on her toes to see over the people. 

"Here, have a boost," Hermione replied, sticking out her folded hands. Ginny smiled appreciatively, then slid her foot in between her hands and propelled herself up. 

"Oh my god…" she whispered.

As soon as Malfoy looked down from the ceiling, he saw Harry and Ron standing in front of him at the table. 

"So, Malfoy…" Harry said menacingly.

Malfoy shifted nervously in his seat. For the first time he could remember, he was actually afraid of that damn Potter and his little Weasel friend. He was afraid to open his mouth, for he couldn't be sure of what pitch his voice would be in, so he clenched his jaw and glared at him coldly.

"We need to have a little chat, outside. You up for it?" 

There was never a challenge Malfoy could turn down. Especially from Harry Potter. He stood up, trying to show confidence and strength, when he really felt awful inside. He opened his mouth slowly as he left the table.

"Sure Potter, why don't we, er, chat…"

The three of them walked slowly and civilly from the great hall as people from the other three tables caught notice. Soon everyone was chattering madly and standing up to follow.

"Hermione, we have to get outside, now! Now!" she yelled down as she jumped to the floor. She grabbed Hermione's hand and squeezed it tightly as she pulled Hermione harshly. Hermione was scared by the way Ginny squeezed her hand; she had been scared before, but now…she could feel her heart catch in her throat.

The three warriors pushed the door open to find the rain pouring madly. But it didn't matter. What was about to happen couldn't be stopped. Of course, like any large, curious population of people would, the followers pushed their way through the doors and gathered around the soon-to-be fight scene. There was utter silence, except for the harsh rain dropping violently. Silence as the two Gryffindors stared Malfoy down like prey. Silence. 

Silence.

Until-

"Harry, don't do it!!!"

Ginny ran through the doors and almost slipped onto the stairs trying to make her way to them. She pushed through the spectators easily this time. Hermione stopped at the stairs, pausing to feel the threatening rain fall on her face. Something was wrong about this rain. Something far worse than the fight that was about to break out. Something incorrigible…Suddenly, she heard that voice in her head again. **_I told you you'd find me useful, didn't I? _**it said silkily. Hermione started. _What? What is it, what is this that I'm feeling? It feels so…cold, desolate, I don't get it…_ she asked it, hoping it could give her some information while it was still here. **_Ah, well, something horrible *is* about to happen…maybe you should go see for yourself…_** Hermione tried to find it, but again, it had run off. She looked up at the sky again, dumbfounded.

"Harry, you can't do this! Please, stop, he didn't mean it, honest…don't you understand?" Ginny cried. 

"Understand?? Understand what?! He hurt Ron, and he hurt me, and now it's time to hurt him…that's all I understand." Harry retorted, keeping his eyes on the shivering Malfoy.

Ginny felt tears build up, but she fought to keep them back. 

"Harry, he's going through so much right now, can't you see? Crabbe is gone! He's going through a transition! He needs a friend, not to be knocked out!"

Harry turned his glare to Ginny. 

"Why the hell are you defending **him? **Has he tricked you too? Ohh, I understand now…Tell me Ginny, did you enjoy that kiss? Huh?" he said tauntingly. 

Ginny couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. _What has gotten into you Harry?_

"Harry, how can you—how can you say that??" she said weakly, feeling the tears flow steadily and freely down her cheeks. 

"You bloody kissed him back!!!!" he yelled, completely losing control of himself.

With that, Ginny silenced herself. It was a losing battle. There was nothing she had to defend herself. He was right. Completely right. 

Harry turned back to Malfoy. Ron pulled out his wand, and taking his cue, so did Harry. He could feel the anger feeding him like never before. Suddenly he dropped his wand on the ground and balled up his fists. 

"Harry, what are you doing?" said Ron and Ginny, simultaneously. But it was too late to reach him now. He raised his fists, ready to strike. All of the strength in every bone and muscle in his body was powering this punch, he could feel it. But as he shot his hand out to reach Malfoy, he felt his eyes close instinctively. And as soon as he did, he heard a painful yell. He opened his eyes, completely astounded by what lay before him.

Ginny lay on the ground, unconscious and bleeding on her lip. Malfoy was on the ground as well, behind her. But he was perfectly fine. Well, physically, yes, but the sight of Ginny on the ground like that in front of him made him a bit queasy. Ron looked shocked. No, more than that. Much more than that. He was even crying. He slowly knelt down to touch her. She was still alive, of course, but this…this was bad. Harry couldn't move. He was glued to the spot. What had just happened??

Harry's eyes were closed, and he extended his arm to give Malfoy the pain of his life. Ginny felt her heart race as she saw Malfoy's face scrunch up in expectant pain. Ron stepped back, not knowing what would happen. And Ginny did the unthinkable: she jumped out in front of Malfoy, knocking him over as she received his punishment. Ginny was knocked out instantly. The last thing she saw was the volumes of wrath Harry's face spoke. 

Harry felt tears falling down his face. _What have I done? How could I do this? To Ginny? Oh Merlin…_ He felt his knees give out and he collapsed to the ground next to her. 

"Ginny? Ginny?" he cried hopelessly as he sobbed uncontrollably. He pulled her close to him as he heard screams from the crowd. Hermione looked down from the sky to see what was going on, and as soon as she saw Ginny on the ground, she ran inside to find Dumbledore.

Harry was unaware of anything around him. all he could see was Ginny. He loved her. He trusted her, of course. Too bad he didn't realize this before. Before...

Dumbledore followed Hermione outside as quickly as his old legs would take him. He stopped as soon as he saw the scene, and he felt his heart fill with sorrow. He walked over to Harry and, without asking any questions, lifted Ginny with unexpected ease and carried her to the castle. Harry stood up heavily and followed, with Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy in back. Up the stairs they went, silently solemn. They reached the hospital wing and were met by Madame Pomfrey.

"Oh goodness me, what on earth happened here???" she shrieked.

"Just a tragic accident, Poppy," he said quietly as he lay Ginny down on the closest bed. Madame Pomfrey didn't ask anymore questions and began to examine her patient carefully.

Hermione and Malfoy sat down, in utter shock. But neither Ron or Harry could sit. They were too unnerved. they stood a few feet away from the bed. There were a few minutes of silence as Pomfrey made her observations, then--

"Well, she'll be alright. I would wake her right now, but sleep will probably help her right now. She took a hard hit," she said, eyeing the boys suspiciously, "and will most likely bruise badly, right about here," she said, pointing at Ginny's jaw.

Harry felt his heart breaking with every word. He couldn't get his throat to speak, but somehow Ron knew what he was trying to say.

"Um, Madame Pomfrey, how long will she have to stay here?" he asked tentatively.

"I'd like to keep her in here for at least a couple of days, just to make sure everything's all right and that her jaw's not broken, which I don't suspect, but I have to be sure..."

Ron sighed and looked up at Harry. He looked back at Ron with the saddest, most apologetic look on his face. But Ron knew he was sorry. He knew how much he loved her. He didn't blame Harry. In fact, he really didn't blame anyone. It was just one big accident. Mistake, actually. One big mistake.


End file.
